STEPBible - Scripture Tools for Every Person - from Tyndale House, Cambridge
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NET Bible with 60,000 notes

The NET Bible is a fresh scholarly translation in modern English with an important and unique feature: notes that record the translators' decisions. STEPBible has these notes in full, so that when we wonder “What’s behind that translation?” the answer is at hand. It even gives new clues about the reason why, for Mary and Joseph, there was no place in Bethlehem.

The NET Bible won my heart as soon as the project started in the 1990s because its aim was to create a Bible in modern English that could be used on the internet for free. The rather banal name “New English Translation” was chosen in order to produce the acronym “NET”, because the publishers recognised that the interNET was where the future lay — and they were right!

 

(If you just want to read about the Christmas mystery, skip to the end)

The project was audacious. The Bible was translated by a team of 25 international scholars, mostly from Dallas Theological Seminary, but also from different colleges, countries and religious backgrounds — including a few Catholic and Jewish ones. These scholars had to produce a readable English Bible, with academic rigour, and as close to the original text as modern English would allow.

For the first time on a project like this, the public was invited to join in. The initial round of translations were put on the web for “beta testing” and anyone could email in to say “I don't know any Hebrew, but this English doesn’t make sense to me,” or “I’m an expert on this passage and I’d like to point out...”. Knowing the world was looking over their shoulders must have concentrated the minds of the translation committee, because what emerged was a version that stood apart from any one particular denomination. They knew there would be immediate push back if they didn’t produce a text that a wide range of believers could accept.

The other unique feature of the NET Bible is the extensive notes. There are more than 60,000, which averages about 50 notes per chapter, or about two per verse. Some notes explain the background context and lifestyle information needed to understand the text, rather like a study Bible. Others point out when different manuscripts would produce a slightly different translation. The bulk of the notes explain why the text is translated as it is.

Translation always involves some interpretation, and usually the reader just has to trust the experts. This was the first edition that required the translators to explain themselves. If they missed out a word or added one, they had to say why. And if commentators pointed out that something is ambiguous, they had to say why they’d chosen that option — or simply say that it could be understood differently. In many instances the notes simply help to explain aspects of the text which are difficult to express in English. In such cases the notes bring you as close as possible to the original, in English.

The Lumina interface at netbible.org/bible is a great way to view all the notes at a glance and even to search them. It also gives access to the large library of articles and answers to questions that have accumulated on the Bible.org site during several years of interaction over the internet.

At STEPBible.org you can see all the notes, without them getting in the way of the text. Where there is a note about the translation this is indicated with a symbol at the correct point in the text. If you hover over the symbol, the corresponding note appears at the bottom of the screen. You also have access to all the other facilities of STEPBible, such as the verse vocabulary with instant lookup for all instances of the original word.

STEPBible.org includes Bibles in all kinds of languages, with interfaces in all the major ones, so it is perfect for someone reading the Bible in a disadvantaged context. Unfortunately, other languages don’t have as many tools as English readers have, so using NET Bible alongside their own Bible helps those who use English as a second language.

So what about the reason Jesus was born in an animal shed? Imagine a girl about to give birth, turning up at a hotel. Who wouldn't give up their room for her? In a gregarious society like the one in ancient Israel, everyone would soon hear about it, so why didn't anyone help her? A note in the NET Bible at Luke 2:7 gives one possible explanation, where it points out that the word translated “inn” (kataluma) usually means a “guest room”. It tells us that various scholars conclude that Joseph went to his family home, and it was his parents who told them: “There’s no place for you in the guest room.”

Joseph’s family may well have lived in Bethlehem because he was registering for taxation there. The Gospels use this fact to point out Joseph’s Davidic ancestry, but Romans weren’t interested in genealogy. They only wanted to know which door to hammer on when taxes were due.

If Joseph’s family were in Bethlehem while he was working away in Nazareth, perhaps they didn’t have a say in who he chose as his bride. So when Mary turns up, visibly pregnant after too few months of marriage and Joseph admitting he wasn’t the father, the couple may not have been expecting a warm welcome from Joseph’s parents. It would be understandable if, given the whiff of scandal, his parents refused to let Mary and Joseph into their respectable home — telling them to use the shed instead. If the neighbours didn’t want to cause offence by undermining this decision, the family shed would have been the only place for Mary to have her baby. Living with shame and scandal was yet another burden that Jesus bore for us.

The Bible opens up when you use STEPBible and the NET Bible together. They form a great tool for Bible students, or for anyone who ever asks: “What’s behind that translation?”

David Instone-Brewer,
Tyndale House, Cambridge









 

www.STEPBible.org is created and supported by Bible scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge
with a great deal of help from volunteers and partnering by many organisations.