About BibleCollab

BibleCollab is an AI + community collaborative Bible translation project. Using multiple large language models (GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Claude), the AI pipeline generated v0.1 drafts for all passages based on source texts and the latest archaeological discoveries. The project is now in Phase 2: community translators and editors review, discuss, and revise the v0.1 drafts through iterative version cycles, producing both Chinese and English copyright-free editions.

The Chinese Union Version (CUV) is the most widely used Chinese Bible translation, but it was completed over 100 years ago. New archaeological discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls provide texts closer to the originals, and some expressions need updating for modern Chinese. Meanwhile, existing high-quality English translations (ESV, NIV, etc.) are all under copyright, and the community needs an open translation based on the latest scholarship.

Chinese Edition: Rigid Nouns, Flexible Syntax

Based on revising the CUV into modern Chinese. Proper nouns strictly follow CUV conventions, theological terms preserve traditional usage, and syntactic structures may be modernized. Deviations from CUV are only permitted when the original text contains errors or ambiguities, and are always footnoted.

English Edition: Formal Equivalence

Translated directly from the original languages without depending on any English base text, using BSB/WEB for disambiguation. The goal is faithful conveyance of source semantics in idiomatic modern English with a dignified literary register. The same original-language term receives the same rendering within each passage.

Copyright-Free

All translations produced by this project are released under an open license for academic research, personal study, and community use. Anyone is free to use them.

Data Sources

The Hebrew base text comes from WLC (Public Domain) and ETCBC BHSA (CC BY-NC 4.0), the Greek base text uses SBLGNT (CC BY 4.0), English reference translations BSB/WEB are Public Domain, and translation notes come from unfoldingWord (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Classical Commentaries

BibleCollab includes twelve of the most influential historical English Bible commentaries — G. Campbell Morgan, John Calvin, Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, Charles Ellicott, Charles Spurgeon, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, J. C. Ryle, John Gill, John Wesley, Keil & Delitzsch, and Thomas Scott. All originals are public-domain works, free to copy, modify, and redistribute. The Chinese translations are produced by GPT-5.4 and stored chapter by chapter alongside the original text for side-by-side reading; the translations themselves are released under CC0 / Public Domain, the same license as the rest of the site. Author portraits come from Wikimedia Commons — full source and attribution details on the portrait credits page.