Readers of English Bibles disagree about some things that are, strictly, matters of wording. Should “brothers” be “brothers and sisters” when the whole church is meant? Should Jesus’s title be “Christ” or “Messiah”? Should pronouns for God have capital letters? Open Word Bible lets each reader choose.
The settings
- Gender language. Inclusive by default, Traditional as an option. Where the original means everyone, the default says so: in John 1:4 the life of the Word is “In him was life, and that life was the light of all people.”, and Traditional reads “men”. God, Christ and named men are never changed.
- Title. “Christ” by default, “Messiah” as an option. The Greek word is a title meaning “anointed one”, and John’s Gospel itself explains it in 1:41.
- Pronouns for God. Lowercase “he” by default, like the original, which has no capital letters; “He” as an option.
- Spanish plural “you”. Ustedes, as spoken in Latin America, or vosotros, as in Spain.
Further settings for the divine name, units and spelling are planned.
Why these, and not others
A setting is only allowed when both options mean the same thing. “Brothers and sisters” and “brothers” (in its older, inclusive sense) both refer to the whole church. “Christ” and “Messiah” are the same title in two languages. Capitalising “he” adds reverence but not meaning.
Disagreements about meaning are different. When scholars disagree about what a verse says, there is no setting. The translation commits to one reading, the record explains why, and a footnote gives the other. A reader cannot switch to a different theology with a tap, and should not be able to.
How it works
Each setting is stored once, inside the text, as a marked pair of options. Because the alternatives sit side by side in the same sentence, a setting never needs its own translation or its own review. Your choices are remembered in your browser.