Freely-Given.org Open English Translation Common Specifications

Introduction

If you haven't seen it yet, you should read the Introduction Page before continuing to read this page. Here, we try to carefully specify all of the guidelines which are common for all of the versions of the Open English Translation of the Bible (OET).

Versions

Most Bible translations consist of only one version, but a number of editions, perhaps with British vs. American spellings, with or without cross-references or study notes, mini-concordance, etc. However, the Open English Translation (OET) of the Bible comes from the beginning with more than one version with different aims, but expected to be used together just like a modern builder might use a nail-gun for many tasks, but pick up his hammer for others.

The following things are common to all of the OET versions:

The misleading terminology Old Testament and New Testament will NOT be used (tentatively The Hebrew accounts and The Messiah accounts)
The terminology Major Prophets and Minor Prophets is also misleading to many readers and will NOT be used
Traditional chapter and verse numbers will be there, but will be strongly downplayed to discourage their use
The word God will be capitalised as a way of acknowledging the Hebrew plural Elohim used as a singular, but other references, e.g., the father, the son, will not be capitalised
Segments which are not included in the most ancient manuscripts will be removed from the inline text
Wherever section headings are used (all but the Literal Version), they will be typeset/displayed in such a way so as not to interrupt the flow of the actual Scripture text
The so-called apocryphal/deuterocanonical books will be included in the OET with a section name yet to be determined (tentatively The other accounts)
Books that were divided simply due to the length of the scrolls will be recombined, e.g., 1 & 2 Samuel into just Samuel
The order that the books will be presented will be changed from the traditional English Christian order
Each book will have an individual version number, and each major release will also have an overall version number
Each version will be available in multiple exported formats for download, including text, LibreOffice/OpenOffice (ODF), and PDF files (both of individual books and of entire versions), USFM and USX files, OSIS files, and Epub electronic book files
A version with the traditional book contents and order will also be released for backwards compatibility with Bible software with limited internationalisation.
The OET will be released under a licence that both enables and encourages others to use and build upon this work. (Most likely this will be a Creative Commons BY-SA licence, but other content licences are also being considered, even Public Domain.)

Note that the OET also includes grammatical and semantic tagging. A full list of tags and special characters can be found here. The tagged files are provided on the Downloads page.

For detailed information about the OET Literal Version, see the (authoritative) OET-LV specifications.

Further design questions yet to be decided

What format will be the definitive format? (Currently ESFM. Is there a free OSIS editor available?)
Exactly what will be our names for the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books?
Will we use a traditional order for the Old Testament books? What books will we recombine (e.g., 1&2Samuel -> Samuel) since we're not limited these days by the size of the scroll?
What order will be used for the New Testament. Certainly it seems sensible to put Luke and Acts together
Should the base spelling be British or American?
How should we handle the English word "pray". It has become standard religious jargon, but the original word seems to mean "to intercede". Can we use a more generic word than "pray" in the OET?

Version numbers

Each book will contain an internal version number of the form Vx.x.xx. These will roughly follow the following series:

Version	Explanation
0.1.00	Fill-in base version adapted from another version -- the ASV in the case of the Literal Version, then the Readers' Version from the Literal Version, and so forth.
0.2.00	First completed draft of the text and section headings
0.3.00	Checked draft of the text and section headings
0.4.00	First completed draft of the text with headings and notes
0.5.00	Checked draft of the text with headings and notes
0.6.00	Checked for consistency of style and key terms
0.7.00	Checked for consistency and accuracy
0.8.00	Ready for external review
0.9.00	This book is waiting ready to be included in a formal release
1.0.00	Finished book released as part of a larger version release

Each release of each of the five OET versions will contain an overall version number of the form Vx.x.xx. These will roughly follow the following series:

Version	Explanation
0.1.00	Prerelease of certain completed books and portions
0.2.00	Second prerelease
0.3.00	Third prerelease
0.4.00	Fourth prerelease
0.5.00	Complete New Testament prerelease with some Old Testament books
0.6.00	Complete New Testament prerelease with the Torah and some other Old Testament books
0.7.00	Complete New Testament prerelease with approx. 50% of the Old Testament
0.8.00	Complete New and Old Testament prerelease
0.9.00	Prerelease of full Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books
1.0.00	First release of full Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books

It is intended that each release be a complete Old and New Testament, even if some of the included books are only fill-in base versions.

See also the Frequently Asked Questions.