Copyrights
First and foremost, we are forever thankful to those individuals, organizations and Bible Societies who have worked and continue to work to translate and make the Bible available in many languages of the world. We are thankful for their explicit or implicit authorization to the use of any Bible texts available in our site.
Wordproject is a global outreach that uses the Internet as a means to fulfill the great commission of Jesus Christ laid in the Holy Bible, New Testament, Mark 16:15 - "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature".
We publish the Holy Bible in good faith claiming the right of fair use for non-profit and educational purposes and public benefit. Most, if not all, of the versions of the Bible in our site are in the Public Domain but, in case of any discrepancies, we state the following:
We acknowledge that the author of the Bible is God - His rights are forever protected. The translations [of most versions found on this site] have been done many years ago, therefore in most cases no longer covered by copyrights. In most countries copyrights last for a limited time. In any case, with all due respect, Bible translations should never be copyrighted as that contravenes the desire of the 'Author' - ["Freely ye have receive, freely give"; " He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things". ]
It is not our intention to violate any copyrights. Thus, any person or entity who has claims over any of the ancient translated Bible texts, is invited to produce evidence in support of their claim, before we are obliged to remove the Bible texts from our site. Such evidence shall be analyzed by our lawyer to verify the validity of such claim. Most, if not all, Bible versions present in our site have been translated many years ago by dedicated missionaries, who gave their life and work for the good of the World in service and unselfish dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ - many were sponsored and supported by public generosity and gifts from Christians - not by the Bible societies or companies who are today claiming copyrights. It is possible and not uncommon in this time and age, that unprincipled and dishonest people, including, in very rare cases, some Bible Societies, would try to manipulate copyrights in order to monopolize Bible texts for their own profit and benefit. This we do not accept and such behavior is object of the most vehement protest and charged accordingly. Claiming copyrights over Biblical texts is illegal in such a case.
Furthermore, as translators and narrators ourselves, we have never been given any rights over the materials we translated or narrated, and we could never have claimed them. If we translate a book for an author, we, as translators, have no rights over the book, the original owner remains the copyright owner. This is so with most literary works translated into other languages.
Also, as far as we know, under international law, a translation of Public Domain works, such as the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts where the Bible is translated from, should remain in the public domain like its originals.
Besides, the Bible is not a mere book, it is the foundation of the Christian faith, and a collections of books inspired and given by God. When anyone claims copyrights over the Bible, such claims are to be duly scrutinized and evaluated. Any Bible publisher or Bible Society who claims to be protecting the integrity of the Bible by limiting its free proliferation online is a disservice to the Christian faith, because, in fact, instead of offering a correct standard for others to use, as they should, they encourage the alteration of Biblical texts and the proliferation of new versions and new translations, which is the obvious consequence of the self-serving control over original Bible texts. The King James version of the Bible, for example, has been in the Public Domain for many years, and remains integral nevertheless.
Furthermore, it has been proven that the free broadcast of Bibles online increases the demand for Bible reading and consequently, the demand for printed Bibles and other commercial Bible products. Since many Bible societies seem to be concerned about their revenues, we must say that, although this is not our aim, we are actually contributing to the increase of sales by Bible Societies and Bible commercial distributors, at large. We have absolutely no gain from this and, if anything, although unwantedly, we are contributing to the profit of Bible societies and distributors.
Not least, many Bible languages have been placed on our site because it was requested by users, Christian and non-Christian, who contact us suggesting that their language be included in our site - for faith building purposes but also for instruction and education. Many even complained to us that they felt left out and their culture ostracized, because their native language would not be found on our site. We have received such requests particularly from Africa, where publishers and Bible Societies have been slow to use the internet to make the Bible available to all, while pushing their printed versions that are costly and not accessible to most people.
The above summarizes our stand concerning the translation, narration, broadcast and online free offer of the Holy Bible in any language, respecting always the opinions of others and the law, which varies from country to country, therefore making it difficult if not impossible to conform with through this globalized means.
'The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it'. [Psalms 68:11]
'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.' [Isaiah 55:1]
Bible narrations: If you wish to narrate the Bible in your own language and place it in the public domain, we will consider placing your narration in our web pages.
All Bible texts found in this website are placed here in good faith, to help spread the Word of God in many languages. We hope and pray that the versions we have available here are well translated. If you find an error or spelling mistake in any of the Bible texts available on this website, please contact us and we will do our best to correct it.
It is NOT necessary to ask permission from us, if you need to link to our pages or use any part of the Bible texts found in our web site
Please, do not link massively to our audio files as it increases our costs in bandwidth. You may link a chapter or two to our audio, sporadically, but DO NOT make a Bible web site or APP and link the whole audio Bible (or Bibles) to our servers. Please place a link to our website and our audio APP instead, so we can properly manage bandwidth according to our resources. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
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