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What’s included
We include every Bible translation possible and regularly check for new translations and updates to existing translations.
What’s not included
Restricted translations
If a translation is not public domain or openly licensed, then we cannot legally include it. This unfortunately includes most of the popular English translations (ESV, NIV, etc). You can still use the fetch(bible) platform with such translations, but you’ll need to request permission yourself (see below).
Inaccurate translations
We don’t include translations well known to be poor quality or unfaithful to the original writings. We cannot review every language we make available, so please let us know if you identify any translations that are unsuitable. We do include old translations (that were considered ok in their period) but provide ways of easily filtering them out.
Apocryphal books
We only include the 66 books of the Protestant canon, so we do not include apocryphal books. We have no interest in providing access to them ourselves, but users desiring those books are welcome to fork our service which is open source.
Getting permission for restricted translations
Most popular Bible translations are commercial and fully copyrighted. We recommend you consider free alternatives so that the church eventually moves away from commercialising God’s Word.
You can use such translations with fetch(bible) if you would like. Once you have access to them you can create a custom collection, only accessible to your organisation, and merge that with our public collection using the fetch(bible) client.
If you do wish to use such translations you will need to get permission from the owners. Most have forms on their websites for requesting permission, but to be able to provide access to their entire translation you will usually need to be a legally registered company or non-profit. You then need to request access to the The Digital Bible Library which is a licensing platform used by the major publishers. Once you have access to that, you will need to individually request permission for each translation you wish to use and establish agreements with them. This often involves paying royalties, even for non-commercial use.
Suggesting a translation
There are thousands of Bible translations in existence and there’s sure to be some we simply don’t know about yet. Feel free to contact us if there is a translation you’d like included, as long as it is public domain or openly licensed.