Revision principles
Note: the Open Translation is a Dutch-language Bible translation. The Dutch source words and replacements are shown below; this page describes the project in English.
The Open Translation is a public-domain revision of the Statenvertaling — not a new translation. The starting point is the SV1888; the text is changed as little as possible.
Core principle
The SV1888 is the starting point. Change only what truly is no longer understood. Literalness takes priority over readability. Every word that can be retained, is retained.
Positioning
Dutch Bible translations form a spectrum from literal to free:
SV 1637 → SV 1888 → Open Translation → NBG-51 → HSV → EBV → NBV-21
The Open Translation stays as close as possible to the SV1888. Deviations are made only for grammatical cases that are no longer understood, the divine Name, and outdated conjugations.
What is changed
Minimal modernization
Only these categories are adjusted (Dutch source words and their replacements):
| SV 1888 | Open Translation | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| den / der / des | de / van de / van het | Cases no longer understood |
| dien / dezen / denzelven | die / deze | Demonstrative case forms |
| hetwelk | dat / waarin | Relative pronoun |
| gij / Gij | u / U | Form of address |
| zeide | zei | Past tense singular (“zeiden” retained) |
| Neen | Nee | Modern spelling |
| Habel | Abel | Customary Dutch spelling |
| dewijl | omdat | Outdated conjunction |
| verbeidde | wachtte | Outdated verb |
| vertoefde | bleef / wachtte | Outdated verb |
| gedichtsel | maaksel / schepsel | Outdated word |
| doch | maar / echter | Outdated conjunction |
| voorts | verder / vervolgens | Outdated adverb |
| ganse | gehele | Outdated adjective |
| eer (= voordat) | voordat | Outdated conjunction |
| moede | moe | Outdated form |
| wien | wie | Outdated case form |
| dezer / dezes | van deze | Outdated case form |
| maagschap | familie / verwanten | Outdated word |
| have | bezittingen / goederen | Outdated word |
| hetgeen | wat | Outdated pronoun |
| iegelijk | iedereen / elk | Outdated pronoun |
| wederom | opnieuw / weer | Outdated adverb |
| wederkeren | terugkeren | Outdated verb |
| mitsgaders | en ook / samen met | Outdated conjunction |
| terstond | meteen | Outdated adverb |
| voorwaar | werkelijk / zeker | Outdated adverb |
| lieden | mensen | Outdated word |
| desgelijks | evenzo / ook | Outdated adverb |
| alleenlijk | alleen / slechts | Outdated adverb |
| overmits | omdat / aangezien | Outdated conjunction |
| geenszins | in geen geval | Outdated adverb |
| droefheid | verdriet | Outdated word |
| tegenwoordigheid | aanwezigheid | Outdated word |
| gramschap | woede / toorn | Outdated word |
| aardrijk | aarde / land | Outdated word |
| nevens | naast / bij | Outdated preposition |
| wijders | verder | Outdated adverb |
| altemaal | allemaal | Outdated spelling |
| arend | adelaar | Outdated word |
| derhalve | daarom | Outdated adverb |
| benevens | naast / samen met | Outdated preposition |
| nademaal | aangezien | Outdated conjunction |
| naardien | aangezien / omdat | Outdated conjunction |
| wijfje | vrouwtje | Outdated word |
| indien | als | Outdated conjunction |
| alzo | zo | Outdated adverb |
| aldaar | daar | Outdated adverb |
| geschieden | gebeuren | Outdated verb |
| u zijt | u bent | Outdated conjugation |
| waart | was | Outdated conjugation |
| waardig | waard | Outdated adjective |
| beginsel | begin | Outdated word |
| wassen | groeien | Outdated verb |
| genood | uitgenodigd | Outdated verb |
| alrede | al | Outdated adverb |
| gaaft | gaf | Outdated conjugation |
| gijzelven | u | Outdated pronoun |
| doorluchtig | glorierijk | Outdated adjective |
| Koninkrijk Gods | Koninkrijk van God | Case |
| Zoon Gods | Zoon van God | Case |
| kinderen Gods | kinderen van God | Case |
| toorn Gods | toorn van God | Case |
| Lam Gods | Lam van God | Case |
| engelen Gods | engelen van God | Case |
| de HEERE / den HEERE | JAHWEH | Divine Name (יהוה) |
| de HEERE God | God JAHWEH | God first, then the Name |
| des HEEREN | van JAHWEH | Genitive + divine Name |
Biblical register retained
Words rooted in the biblical tradition that are still understood are not replaced with everyday Dutch:
| Retained | Not used | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| voortbrengen | laten ontstaan | Biblical and understandable |
| vermenigvuldigen | talrijk worden | Biblical and understandable |
| gedierte | dieren | Biblical and understandable |
| gevogelte | vogels | Biblical and understandable |
| zaaddragend | planten die zaad geven | Literal rendering of source text |
| kruipend gedierte | kleine dieren | Literal rendering of source text |
| wemelen | krioelen | Biblical and understandable |
| uitspansel | firmament / hemelgewelf | Literal rendering of raqia |
| afgrond | diepte | Literal rendering of tehom |
| alzo | zo / op die manier | Retained where SV uses it |
Biblical idioms retained
| Not used | Used instead | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Laat er licht zijn | Er zij licht | The jussive form has commanding force |
| Laat de aarde voortbrengen | De aarde brenge voort | Direct command form for God's creation words |
| Laten Wij mensen maken | Laat Ons mensen maken | “Us” retained as form of address of the Trinity |
Sentence structure
Follow the sentence structure of the SV1888 as closely as possible. Do not split long sentences and do not add words that are not in the source text.
The sentence structure may seem “awkward” by modern standards. The original structure weighs more heavily than fluent modern prose.
Divine names
Old Testament
| Statenvertaling | Open Translation | Hebrew |
|---|---|---|
| HEERE | JAHWEH | יהוה (JHWH) |
| God | God | אלהים (Elohim) |
| de HEERE God | God JAHWEH | יהוה אלהים — God first, then the Name |
| Heere HEERE | Adonai JAHWEH | אדני יהוה |
| Heere (= Adonai) | Heere | אדני — not JAHWEH; this is a different title |
| HEERE der heirscharen | JAHWEH van de legermachten | יהוה צבאות (JHWH Tsevaot) |
| God de Almachtige | El Shaddai | אל שדי |
| God de Allerhoogste | El Elyon | אל עליון |
New Testament
| Statenvertaling | Open Translation | Greek |
|---|---|---|
| Heere (= God, in OT quotations) | JAHWEH [Kurios] | Κυριος |
| Heere (= Jesus) | Heer [Kurios] | Κυριος |
| God | God [Theos] | Θεος |
| Christus | Christus [Christos] | Χριστος |
| Jezus | Jezus [Ièsous] | Ἰησους |
Source text
Old Testament
Primary source: BHS/BHQ (Codex Leningradensis).
Dead Sea Scrolls and LXX variants are noted in margin notes where relevant.
New Testament
Primary source: NA28/ECM.
Where the SV follows a TR reading that is not found in the oldest manuscripts, the NA28 reading is adopted. The TR reading is noted in the margin note.
Whole verses found only in the TR are moved to margin notes:
- Mark 7:16, 9:44, 9:46, 11:26, 15:28
- John 5:3b-4
- Acts 8:37, 15:34
Large passages in [[double brackets]] with margin note:
- Mark 16:9-20 (long ending of Mark)
- John 7:53-8:11 (woman caught in adultery)
Translation corrections vs. SV 1637
| Verse | SV 1637 | Open Translation | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gen. 2:7 | levende ziel | levend wezen | Nefesh = being, not immortal soul |
| Gen. 2:17 | zult gij den dood sterven | zult gij zeker sterven | Inf. absolutus as intensifier |
| Gen. 2:18 | hulpe die als tegen hem over zij | een hulp tegenover hem | Kenegdo = as opposite him |
| Gen. 3:15 | datzelve | hij | Masculine refers to offspring |
| Gen. 3:16 | begeerte | verlangen | More modern rendering |
| Gen. 6:4 | reuzen | nephilim | Transliteration; margin note: “giants, or: fallen ones” |
| Gen. 6:6 | het berouwde Hem | het smartte Hem | Avoids the suggestion that God regrets a mistake |
| OT passim | hel / graf (inconsistent) | dodenrijk | All 65 occurrences of Sheol consistently |
Theological choices
- Realm of the dead: “realm of the dead” instead of “hell” in the Old Testament (Sheol consistently)
- Spirit/flesh: where set against each other (Romans 8): “spirit” with a lowercase letter
Avoiding time-bound disputes
The margin notes avoid time-bound theological disputes (Counter-Remonstrants–Remonstrants, anti-Catholic polemic). The text must remain purely biblical. Where the source text allows multiple readings, these are presented honestly side by side.
- Acts 13:48: note multiple readings of “tetagmenoi”
- Rom. 8-9: present multiple interpretative traditions
- John 3:16: do not narrow “world” (kosmos)
- Covenant/baptism theology: take no confessional position
- Remove anti-Catholic and anti-Remonstrant polemic
No qualification of God's Word
Formulations in margin notes that qualify or relativise God's Word are removed. For example, “Spoken about God in human terms” at Gen. 8:1 (“And God remembered Noah”) suggests the text actually means something other than what it says. We take God's Word literally and do not add qualification.
Margin notes
Revision policy
The margin notes are revised less drastically than the Bible text. In content they remain as close as possible to the original. Only spelling and unintelligible formulations are modernised. Theological substance and explanation are retained, except where they concern time-bound disputes.
Hebrew and Greek words
Principle: Where a margin note discusses a Hebrew or Greek word, the word is given both in its original script and in transliteration.
| Testament | Example |
|---|---|
| OT | “Heb. nefesh (נֶפֶשׁ), soul” |
| NT | “Gr. kosmos (κοσμος), world” |
Type designations
- Explanation — clarification of the text
- Cross-reference — parallel passages
- Textual criticism — manuscript variants
- Source text — Hebrew/Greek word meaning
- Name explanation — etymology at first mention
Name explanations
| Name | First mention | Etymology |
|---|---|---|
| Adam | Gen. 2:7 | adam = man; related to adama = ground |
| Eve (Chawwa) | Gen. 3:20 | chawwa = (giver of) life |
| Cain | Gen. 4:1 | qajin = acquired/forged |
| Abel (Hevel) | Gen. 4:2 | hevel = breath, transience |
| Seth | Gen. 4:25 | sjet = set/placed |
| Noah | Gen. 5:29 | noach = rest; wordplay with nacham = to comfort |
| Abram/Abraham | Gen. 12:1 / 17:5 | av ram = exalted father; av hamon = father of a multitude |
| Jesus (Yeshua) | Matt. 1:21 | yeshua = JAHWEH saves |
Translation rules
- Spell out Hebrew/Greek words — always with original script + transliteration
- Bible references as clickable links
- Abbreviations spelled out — “D.” → “That is to say:”, “N.” → “Namely”
- Modernize book abbreviations — Psal. → Ps., Actor. → Acts, Genes. → Gen., Apocal. → Rev.
- Avoid time-bound disputes
Formatting
- Words of God: red, italic, between quotation marks
- Direct speech (people): italic, between quotation marks
- Margin-note markers: superscript numbers, clickable
Scope
The Open Translation covers all 66 canonical books and 16 apocryphal books. The SV1888 text is available for the entire Bible (37,314 verses). Source text with Strong’s numbers is available for 83% of the verses.
Technical principles
Data model
All Bible data is stored as JSON — one file per Bible book (83 books). Each verse contains multiple editions:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
text1637 / text1637_html | Statenvertaling 1637 (original) |
textSV1888 / textSV1888_html | Statenvertaling 1888 (Tukker spelling) |
text2026 / text2026_html | Open Translation 2026 (CC0) |
grondtekst | Hebrew/Greek per word with Strong’s numbers and morphology |
marginNotes | Margin notes in three editions (1637, 1888, 2026) |
phraseDiff | Phrase-level diff OV ↔ SV1888 |
status | Editing status: empty / draft / review / final |
Source text and Strong’s
- OT: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB/morphhb)
- NT: Open Greek New Testament (OpenGNT)
- Lexicons: BDB Hebrew (~8,700 entries) and Abbott-Smith Greek (~5,600 entries)
Direct speech and God-quotations
- God-quotations: 6,322 verses identified, stored in god-speaks.json. Applied by verse number (100% reliable).
- Human quotations: 5,000+ quotations with speaker and verse range in all-speech.json.
Phrase-level diff
Automated diff system compares OV with SV1888 at the phrase level, using known replacement patterns. 24,722 verses with changes exported.
Paintings
937 paintings linked to Bible references: 815 from statenvertaling.net and 122 by Jan van ’t Hoff (gospelimages.com).
Statistics
| Item | Count |
|---|---|
| Books | 83 (66 canonical + 16 apocryphal + 1 prayer book) |
| Verses | 37,314 |
| Source-text words | 441,868 |
| God-quotations | 6,322 verses |
| Outdated words replaced | 22,112 |
| Paintings | 937 |
| Book introductions | 83 |
| Chapter introductions | 158 |
Word list
The Open Translation deliberately retains a number of older Dutch words that belong to the biblical register. Below is an overview of these words with explanation:
Deliberately retained words
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| alzo | “so” or “in this way” |
| aldaar | “there” or “in that place” |
| spijze | “food” or “nourishment” |
| gedierte | “animals” (collective) |
| gevogelte | “birds” (collective) |
| geboomte | “trees” (collective) |
| uitspansel | “the dome of heaven” (rendering of raqia) |
| vermenigvuldigen | “to multiply and increase” |
| aankleven | “to cleave firmly to” |
| begeerte | “strong desire” |
| afgrond | “bottomless deep” (tehom) |
| gramschap | “wrath, fierce anger” |
| voorwaar | “truly, I assure you” |
| vreze des Heeren | “reverence for God” |
| weldadigheid | “goodness in practice” |
| ontferming | “deep compassion that leads to action” |
| tuchtiging | “corrective discipline” |
| knechtschap | “servitude, subjection” |
| lijdzaamheid | “patient endurance of adversity” |
| goedertierenheid | “faithful covenant love” (chesed) |
| welgelukzalig | “greatly blessed and happy” |
Changelog
v0.11
- 8,000+ words: indien→als, alzo→zo, aldaar→daar, geschieden→gebeuren, u zijt→u bent, wassen→groeien, beginsel→begin, and more.
- Cases: Koninkrijk/Zoon/kinderen/toorn/Lam/engelen Gods → van God.
- Speech-v2: segment-based quotation marking. John audited.
- 285 concepts John. Concepts mode in the Bible reader.
- 57+ change principles with 97% linkage.
v0.10
- Improved quotation boundaries: quotations begin after the colon. Genesis fully audited.
- 599 outdated words replaced: eer→voordat (277x), moede→moe (82x), wien→wie (240x).
- 1,130x dezer/dezes → van deze.
- Glossary Genesis: 922 concepts with clickable popup explanations.
- Tag system: topical tags on Bible verses.
- Statistics page with live counts per book.
- Direct-speech quotation marks: human quotations now also with quotation marks.
- Broken words fixed.
- Principles expanded: eer→voordat, moede→moe, wien→wie, dezer→van deze.
- Search function, verse selection & copy, Biblical encyclopedia (8,842 articles).
v0.9
- Curated God-quotations: 6,322 verses identified, stored in god-speaks.json.
- All direct quotations: 5,000 quotations (God + man) with speaker and verse range.
- 22,112 outdated words replaced: doch→maar, ganse→gehele, hetgeen→wat, iegelijk→iedereen, wederom→opnieuw, terstond→meteen, mitsgaders→en ook, desgelijks→evenzo, and 20+ others.
- Spelling of introductions: 83 book introductions and 158 chapter introductions modernised.
- Gen. 6:4: giants → Nephilim.
- Reading edition: static HTML export with book/chapter navigation.
- JSON as single source of truth.
- KT Diff column: phrase-level diff for margin notes, 24,722 verses.
- 937 paintings linked to Bible references.
- Principles expanded: no qualification of God's Word, 30+ word replacements.
v0.8
- New principle: SV1888 as starting point, minimal changes.
- Genesis fully revised (50 chapters) incl. 50 chapter introductions.
- Complete SV1888: all 66 books + 16 apocrypha (37,314 verses).
- Source text: 441,868 words with Strong’s numbers (83% coverage).
- Lexicons: BDB Hebrew + Abbott-Smith Greek.
- Columns: SV1637, KT1637, SV1888, KT1888, OV2026, KT2026, Heb/Gr, Diff.
- Principles revised: JAHWEH, Heere≠HEERE, avoid time-bound disputes.
v0.7
- Translation principles revised: literalness above readability.
- Biblical register retained: gedierte, gevogelte, uitspansel, afgrond, alzo.
- Genesis 1-4, John 3, Romans 8 revised.
- Margin notes of all books retranslated.
- Calvinistic bias neutralised: Acts 13:48, Rom. 8-9, John 3:16.
v0.6
- Margin notes as columns, lexicon tooltips, cross-references as links.
v0.5
- Strong’s numbers, column toggles, HSV/NBG-51 comparison.
v0.4
- Editable verses, status per verse, import/export.
v0.1–0.3
- Initial setup, Genesis 1-3 as pilot, divine-names system.
Licence
CC0 — Public domain
The Open Translation is released under CC0. Anyone may freely use, copy, print, and distribute the text. Without permission. Without cost. Forever.