What Is the World English Bible Translation?

WEB stands for World English Bible. It is an English Bible translation, not a page color, binding style or file format. Both our physical Black and White New Testaments use World English Bible wording.

What the name tells you

The World English Bible project describes its translation as an update of the American Standard Version of 1901 into contemporary English. Its own documentation explains its translation approach and public-domain status. Those are properties of the text; they do not tell you how a particular publisher has laid out a printed page.

The project provides several editions and book collections. Our Black and White Edition books are described as the English World English Bible New Testament. For the wording and layout of the copy we sell, use our actual product sample as the final reference rather than assuming every website labeled WEB is identical in every detail.

Translation and presentation are separate choices

Black pages, white pages and red lettering are design decisions. They do not turn WEB into another translation. A two-column page and a single-column page can contain the same wording, even though the reading experience looks different.

In our printed editions, red identifies Jesus’ words. Other text is white on the Black Edition’s black printed pages and black on the White Edition’s white pages. Both contain the New Testament only.

Check the wording yourself

Choose a passage you already know and read it in the sample. Notice vocabulary, sentence length and any wording that differs from the Bible you normally use. Then read an unfamiliar paragraph: familiarity can make a sample seem easier to read than it will be throughout the book.

If you are buying for a group, ask which translation its members use. You can compare editions, but following a passage aloud may be simpler when everyone uses the same wording.

Before you order

Confirm the translation, contents and physical format independently. “WEB” does not mean “eBook,” and “Black Edition” does not mean “KJV.” The Black and White Edition books are WEB New Testaments, available in hardcover or softcover. Our Five Books of Moses, our illustrated New Testament and our theme books of Scripture let you choose the WEB or the King James Version at purchase, and each edition names its translation.