The Tragedy of Greedy Bible Publishing Companies

One of the greatest evils in our current society is the money-grubbing intentions behind the big companies that publish the Bible. All of the modern, readable translations of the Bible are copyrighted, with the sole exception of the World English Bible. This means that if I If I wrote a commentary on say the book of James, in which I quoted the entire NIV text of the book of James, I would first have to secure written permission from the International Bible Society.

The NIV may be quoted up to 500 verses without written permission, so long as the quotes do not make up an entire book of the Bible and so long as they do not make up more than 25% of the commentary. Unfortunately, it is not just the NIV, and it is not just the International Bible Society. The New American Standard Bible is copyrighted by the Lockman Foundation, the New King James Version is copyrighted by Thomas Nelson Publishers, The Living Bible is copyrighted by Tyndale House, and the list goes on and on. The New American Standard Bible, copyrighted by the Lockman Foundation, has the same standard. The New Living Translation is even more rigid—quoting 250 verses or having a commentary consist of 20% quotes requires publisher permission. The English Standard Version may be quoted up to 1,000 verses and 50% of a commentary may consist of quotes, without permission.

I’ve spent weeks researching this now and have found so far that the only English versions of the Bible that are in the public domain are the King James Version of 1611 (and even that is copyrighted in the UK), Darby’s Translation (19th century), Young’s Literal Translation, the American Standard Version, and the online World English Bible. Of the five public domain versions that I’ve found, only the World English Bible is truly contemporary English. The KJV, as poetic as it is, can be very difficult to decipher. The same can be said about the ASB, Darby’s, and especially Young’s Literal.

Do you realize what this means? It means that the Gideon’s can distribute the KJV at a very low cost, because it’s public domain, but are out of pocket significantly if they try to distribute the more readable New King James, which is copyrighted by Thomas Nelson Publishers. Christian publishing companies are making it more difficult for those in ministry to widely disseminate Scripture. Here is an excerpt from the Frequently Asked Questions section of the World English Bible web site. The question was, “Why is the copyright such a big deal?” Here is the reply:

"The copyright laws of most nations and the international treaties that support them are a mixed blessing. By granting authors and translators a legal monopoly (for a limited, but very long, time) on the right of copying and “first sale” of their works, the law makers have made writing and translating very profitable for some people whose works are in great demand. This has, no doubt, been a factor in the creation of many of the good Modern English translations of the Holy Bible that we now enjoy. The problem with this system, with respect to the Holy Bible, is that it has had the effect of limiting distribution of God’s Word in modern languages.

For example, I cannot legally post copies of the entire New International Version of the Holy Bible on my web site in a downloadable, searchable, and readily copyable format without the permission of the International Bible Society and Zondervan (copyright owner and publisher). Zondervan won’t grant such permission unless they get a significant royalty (they quoted me $10,000 + $10/copy distributed) and unless I convince them that my Bible search software is “good enough” for them. Needless to say, the Bible search software that I am writing with the intention of distributing as donorware will not come with the NIV.

The problem of copyright protection of Modern English translations of the Holy Bible is not just significant on the Internet and various electronic information services. It also affects people who want to quote significant portions of Scripture in books, audio tapes, and other media. This drives up the price of preaching the Gospel. Basic economics tells us that this is not a good thing when our goal is to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). For example, the “free” Bibles that the Gideons place cost more if they use a modern version, like Thomas-Nelson’s New King James Version, than if they use the (more difficult to read) King James Version."

Based on the International Bible Society’s setup, if I wrote a commentary, quoting an entire Biblical book in the NIV, the International Bible Society could press charges against me for copyright infringement. A “Christian” book company suing a writer attempting to publicize Scripture—isn’t it manifestly obvious that this is absurd and wicked? Paul said in 1 Corinthians that Christians should prefer to let themselves be wronged, instead of taking their fellow Christians to court. What would Paul have said if he could’ve seen the day when a minister would be sued by a “Christian” company for quoting an entire book that Paul had written?

Paul and the other apostles frequently quoted Scripture in their epistles. Can you imagine what slow going it would have been for the apostles if they’d have had to wait for publisher permission before quoting the Old Testament in their epistles? The thing that galls me the most about this issue is that copyright, by its very nature, implies ownership. To copyright something, you own the right to reproduce something. But none of us can “own” Scripture. It is God’s Word. Christians have blanket permission from God himself to spread the gospel abroad—the Great Commission. I will never, never, never ask permission from a publishing company for permission to quote the Bible in my writings. The very idea seems to me obviously wicked. The International Bible Society doesn’t own the Bible, and therefore their claim to have copyrights to it are wicked and absurd. Copyrighting Scripture shows me definitively that these companies are, I hate to say it, godless, more concerned about padding their pockets with money than they are about Christ. Christians are obliged to keep the law until or unless it interferes with their Christian principles.

Being told by a “Christian” company that I can’t quote a book of the Bible without permission DOES conflict with the principle of evangelism. I hope that all Christians will publish, print, quote, photocopy, etc… any portion of the Bible that they can, and that they will do it as often as they can. We have permission from the Holy Spirit to quote the book that he wrote. We need no permission from any human agency.

I recently wrote a disgruntled e-mail to the International Bible Society, expressing my feelings about their copyright. Here is that e-mail, as well as the IBS response.

Dear International Bible Society,

Last night, as I was reading through my Seasons of Reflection NIV Bible, I was appalled to see that the text of the NIV is copyrighted by the International Bible Society. If a commentator quotes up to an entire book or 500 verses, or if 25% of their overall work is Scripture quotations, he or she must get written permission in order to publish their work.

Sacred Scripture is God's word to us, and it belongs to every Christian alike. For any church or translation organization to claim ownership of Scripture, or to claim copyright to the text, seems to me to be quite immoral. Your organization's mission statement is to disseminate God's word around the world. But do you not think that copyrighting Scripture, thereby making it more difficult for those in ministry to copy and spread Scripture without your written permission, is in conflict with your mission?

Copyrighting Scripture seems to me to be turning the church into more of a business enterprise instead of the Body of Christ. Even the moneychangers that Christ threw out of the temple hadn't pretended to own the exclusive right to publish Scripture. As Paul said, “The word of God is not bound.”; Copyrighting Scripture is, in my opinion, attempting to bind God's word. Copyrighting Scripture may be valid in the eyes of the U.S. Copyright Office, but I have trouble believing it could be valid in the eyes of Christ. Each and every Christian should be quoting and writing and spreading Scripture every chance they get and your claim to own the copyright is a great hindrance to such endeavors. I wish with all my heart that you'd renounce your copyright claim on the Bible.

Thank you for reading this. God bless,

Daniel Townsend

Here’s the reply from the IBS:

Dear Mr. Townsend:

Thank you for your email of November 9, 2007, regarding the copyright of the NIV®. Indeed the NIV® is copyrighted, as is every Bible translation other than the King James Version, which was published in 1611 and hence is not copyrighted. However, even the New King James Version is copyrighted. Copyright means that no one may change or amend the text, nor may anyone publish the text without permission. The NIV® translators and publishers stand by the accuracy of the text and will not permit it to be corrupted or changed in any way. There are many who might wish to change a verse or passage to suit their agenda or theological leaning, and copyright prevents such distortions.

The NIV® was produced by a team of over 100 evangelical scholars after more than a decade of work at a cost of millions of dollars. The publishers may distribute Scriptures without charge – as much as they can afford- and IBS-STL does literally distribute millions of Scriptures without charge around the world and also in prisons in America and elsewhere. IBS-STL is a non-profit organization and survives by recouping the cost of its products as well as through the gifts of donors.

I hope that this sheds some light on why the NIV® (and all the other translations) is protected by copyright. We exist to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. If I may be of further assistance, please let me know. May God bless you.

Barbara Welton

Legal Services, IBS-STL U.S. , Inc.

Notice that the rationale for copyrighting the NIV is to keep the text from being corrupted or changed. That is exactly the same argument used by the medieval church for keeping the Bible out of the vernacular. The fear was that the “common man” if he could read the Bible, would change it or misinterpret. Better to keep it inaccessible. The argument was false when the medieval Church used it and it’s equally false for the IBS to use it. God is quite capable of keeping his word from being corrupted. He did for the first several hundred years of the church, when the Bible was being copied by hand by monks—hundreds of years before the copyright laws or the printing press even existed. The World English Bible FAQ page contained a question, “Isn’t it dangerous not to copyright the WEB?” Here’s the reply:

"Copyright protection is intended to protect the income of the copyright holder’s sales of a work, but we are planning to GIVE AWAY the right to make copies of this version of the Holy Bible to anyone who wants it, so we have nothing to lose that way. There is some argument for copyrighting a Bible translation just to retain some legal control against some evil, cultic revision of a translation. The God’s Living Word translations of John’s Gospel and John’s letters are copyrighted only for this reason, for example, even though blanket permission to make unlimited copies of that translation is published with them. This legal leverage is so much weaker than God’s protection of His own Word that it is of questionable value."

I write this lengthy protest note to encourage Christians, if they are able, to boycott and speak out against those like the IBS who are making it more difficult for people to widely disseminate Scripture. Pray that they will see the light and renounce their bogus claim. The Bible belongs to the Body of Christ, and NO organization has ANY right to copyright it period. From this point forward, I aim to only quote from the WEB in my writings because I do not want to be sued, but more importantly because I do not want to in any way endorse any company that pretends to own the copyright to the Bible. Thanks for reading.