About the Bible version used on this website

Notes about the Bible used in references on seiyaku.com

This website mainly uses biblical references from the New English Translation (NET) version.

Over the centuries, the Bible has been published in several translations and versions. Each new issue attempts to be easier to follow than its predecessor and claims to be more accurate to the original Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek.

The English language is constantly evolving (see a few quirky results below) and some of the older translations are less easy to follow. The King James Version (KJV) has been the mainstay of Christian churches in the West, particularly in Protestant churches, but this was published in 1611 and many of the Old English phrases used, whilst quaint, can sometimes prevent the reader from grasping the true meaning.

Interestingly, the word 'prevent' in the previous paragraph had two meanings when the KJV was published: The current meaning of 'hinder', and an older Middle English meaning of 'come before' (from 'pre' meaning 'before', and 'venire' meaning 'come'). So in 1 Thess. 4:15 we read:

which can be compared with a modern translation:

Another example can be found in Philippians 1:27:

where 'conversation' used to mean 'behave in a certain way', from the Latin conversari 'to dwell, live with, keep company with', passive voice of conversare 'to turn round with'. Hence the modern translation:

The word 'let' in the KJV can also be misinterpreted to mean 'permit', when the actual intention is the archaic meaning of 'forbid'. Such meaning is obsolete in general English; an exception being the legal phrase 'without let or hindrance'.

In fact the KJV itself urges us to speak clearly. 1 Cor. 14:9

'The passion of Christ' is a familiar phrase, and the earliest English use of 'passion' comes from Latin passio, from patior = 'to suffer'. It originally referred specifically to suffering, especially the suffering of Christ; Jesus’ arrest, torture and crucifixion.

In the Middle Ages passion still meant suffering, and could also refer to martyrdom or the suffering of saints. In the 1600s – 1700s the word began expanding to mean strong emotion, especially anger or intense feeling. For example, 'He was moved by passion' = He was overcome by emotion, not necessarily love.

In the 1700s – 1800s the romantic and sexual meaning grew stronger, leading to today's broader meaning of any strong enthusiasm, not just love. 'She has a passion for painting' or 'I follow my passion in life'.

Even the word 'suffer' we've used in sentences above, has changed from the earlier meaning of 'permit'. 'Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me' (Matthew 19:14).

Here are a few more:

	Biblical meaning	Modern meaning
Charity	Divine love	Giving to the needy
Meat	Any food	Animal flesh
Quick	Alive	Fast
Peculiar	Special, belonging	Strange
Corn	Grain (wheat/barley)	Maize
Replenish	Fill	Refill
Hope	Confident expectation	Uncertain desire

In addition to the archaic words mentioned above, here are a few more:

• Anon (Matt. 13:20)
  KJV: ...and anon with joy receiveth it.
  NET: ...and immediately receives it with joy.
• Wot (Exod. 32:1)
  KJV: ...we wot not what is become of him.
  NET: ...we do not know what has become of him!
  wot -> know: present tense
• Wist (Luke 2:49)
  KJV: Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
  NET: Didn't you know that I must be in my Father's house?
  wist -> knew: past tense
• Hale (Luke 12:58)
  KJV: ...lest he hale thee to the judge...
  NET: ...so that he will not drag you before the judge...
• Bewray (Matt. 26:73)
  KJV: ...thy speech bewrayeth thee.
  NET: ...your accent gives you away! [betrays you]

And with that, we rest our case.

Why NET?

The English language will continue to change and consequently the Scriptures must be updated into contemporary language for us to understand God's Word. For this reason, Nelson published a revised New King James Version (NKJV) in three stages between 1979 and 1982.

So why has the NET version been selected for the seiyaku.com website, rather than Nelson's excellent NKJV version? The answer is that copyright laws prevent us from reproducing sizeable passages from the NKJV.

Thomas Nelson and Holman Bible Publishers are commercial companies who need to protect their investment with copyright restrictions. They depend largely on their profits to fund development of future editions. The NET Bible®, however, is freely available at bible.org. We are not trying to compete with NET Bible's publishers; on the contrary, we support them. We offer neither sophisticated search facilities nor analytical commentaries. If you require such research tools, please visit bible.org.

Vulgate

We also include the Nova Vulgata, the official Roman Catholic version in Latin. 

No copyright on that, and useful for students to compare side-by-side with English versions.

Apocrypha

The Deuterocanonical Books of the Apocrypha are also shown, which help fill a few gaps when comparing the Vulgate with the KJV.

Book names & abbreviations

For the names of the books in the Bible, you may be more comfortable using some names than others. For example, 'Revelations', 'The Revelation of St. John the Divine', or the 'Apocalypse'. Nothing should be implied by our decision to use certain names; we'd rather you focus on the book's content.

Book names on this website are abbreviated according to common conventions.

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