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Copyright on Greek Bibles


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#1 pfpeller

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Posted 02 December 2011 - 09:03 PM

In a discussion thread somewhere else on the internet about the copyright status of NA26 I saw the comment below:

There is also the matter that they may not have a legal leg to stand on. There is the suggestion that a text that is going on it's second millenium may have passed into the Public Domain.

I thought that was an interesting thought. How would the authors think they have the right to copyright a text that they think is a more accurate representation of a text that has existed for almost 2000 years!

Disclaimer - I am fundamentally repulsed to copyrights for any translation of the Bible.

Blessings,
Peter

I saw the comment in a discussion at the link below:
http://www.ibiblio.o...1/msg00289.html

#2 Josh Bond

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Posted 02 December 2011 - 09:13 PM

Claimed copyrights are sometimes like claimed patents and claimed trademarks. Claiming one is one thing--actually having something enforceable is all together different. But I'm not that familiar with NA26.

I did hear from a foreign publisher about some other Bibles. They demanded, in broken English, I remove them from mediafire.com. And I said, really? You think I run mediafire.com?

#3 pfpeller

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Posted 02 December 2011 - 09:16 PM

I think that NA26 is a Greek NT that many of the modern English translations are based on. I may be wrong.

#4 Ebed Doulos

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Posted 03 December 2011 - 02:17 AM

The Greek text for the Nestle-Aland (NA26/27) and United Bible Socities (UBS3/4) are said the be identical for all practical purposes. The difference is in their associated critical apparatus. I am told that the apparatus of the UBS4 is designed with the translator in mind while NA27 is for the scholar.

A recent entry into Greek textual studies is the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) edition published in 2010. The SBL agrees with the NA27 and the UBS4 far more than it differs from them. Shucks, it should. The Goodrich and Lukaszewski (NIV), is in large part the same as the NA27. Again, the primary differences seems to be the critical apparatus. The nice thing about the SBL is that the electronic version is free and the hardcopy printed format is only $30.00. The frustrating thing (for me at least) is that one cannot determine which ancient Greek manuscripts lie behind a particular passage without dragging out other books, e.g., Westcott and Hort (WH), Tregelles (Treg), Robinson-Pierpont (RP) and the aformentioned NIV upon which the SBL is built. Of the four, the only one I have is WH. I'm trying to track down a reasonably priced edition of the others. I suspect that everybody is looking for them as well because they sure go fast and they don't go cheap.
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#5 BaptizedBeliever

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Posted 03 December 2011 - 08:45 AM

I found my UBS3 at a Goodwill store for $1.00. I recommend www.shopredeemed.com. It is a used bookstore in Springfield, MO that deals almost exclusively in religious books. FANTASTIC place to go and spend hours browsing. I got my NA27 (combined with an English version as well) for around $30 from there. Also, twice a year, they put their entire store on sale at 40% off.

That was one of the sad things about moving from Missouri...not being able to go there anymore.

BCobb

#6 jonathon

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Posted 03 December 2011 - 04:23 PM

I think that NA26 is a Greek NT that many of the modern English translations are based on.

NA26/US3 & NA-27/USB4 are synthetic texts. They are what a small, but significant sub-set of academic scholars who study the Greek texts think were in the original NT texts.

How much of it is subject to copyright is an issue nobody really wants to get involved in, because the only winners will be the lawyers.

The German Bible Society has issued cease and desist notices to sites that distribute the NA-26. (The person in charge of sending cease and desist notices usually manages to send the notices about e-Sword resources to the wrong people. )

jonathon

#7 ebulerdo

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Posted 06 December 2011 - 03:24 PM

Hi

I think that argument is very powerful: the more quality job they have done, the more similar is their text to the autographs, ergo the less rights they have above it.

If they had done a really bad job, and their text were very different from the original, then they might claim copyrights. :-D

Carlos

#8 Tony Stark

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 04:42 AM

Mr. Pellerin, I am with you in that Bibles should not be copyrighted (just like the KJV). They didn't write those words! Those should all be copyrighted to Paul (for example) because a work is copyright as soon as one writes it!






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