The Greek New Testament by Biblica

An open-licensed Greek New Testament built to serve the global church and accelerate Bible translation through unrestricted access to critical source texts

The coalition behind the Greek New Testament by Biblica brings together academics from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, data scientists from unfoldingWord, strategic accelerators from ETEN Innovation Lab, and publishing expertise from Biblica with the goal of creating a high-quality and reliable Greek New Testament that is available to all. 

The source text of the New Testament should be freely accessible to everyone who needs it. At present, new Bible communities across the globe find the currently available Greek New Testaments either too difficult to access, too costly, or too encumbered by legal requirements. Recognizing the hurdles these issues present in reaching the All Access Goals, this coalition is advancing a collaborative approach to provide unhindered access to a Greek New Testament of the highest academic quality. While existing public domain texts and those with permissive licenses serve important purposes, there remains a need for a source text that fully incorporates recognized scholarship and widely accepted methodological approaches. Currently, many existing openly licensed texts face limitations: some were produced using single editors, others lack ongoing revisions processes, and several don’t directly engage with manuscript evidence. Through shared commitment, this coalition is addressing these concerns as they create an openly licensed, digital-first Greek New Testament that ensures the text remains transparent, trustworthy, and actively maintained by a global community.

The initial development of this resource relies on a process whereby text-critical scholars carefully examine each variant in the New Testament as their evaluations are tracked transparently. This system is based on a comprehensive dataset developed over two decades by the Center for New Testament Textual Studies. Through a structured editing environment, multiple editors review and compare the variants and engage with direct manuscript evidence to make informed choices. The result is an iterative process that combines rigorous academic standards with open collaboration. This methodology ensures every textual choice is made using fresh, independent evaluation while maintaining complete transparency. Currently, the team has completed work on the Gospel of Mark. Being released in stages, and with the first editorial pass completed in January 2024, the first full edition of the Greek New Testament is targeted for completion by the end of 2025. 

The free availability of this Greek New Testament coupled with its high academic foundation brings immediate, much-needed benefits to the Bible translation community, including allowing teams to publish, distribute, and print the text without seeking permission. The project’s digital foundation enables innovative approaches like creating interlinear texts for quality assurance and facilitating the use of underlying datasets. The project also includes resources specifically designed for translators including text-critical commentary, glosses for variants in different languages, and an open dataset showing manuscript variations. 

The Greek New Testament by Biblica represents a unified effort to support Bible translation communities worldwide. Through regular updates, community-driven improvements, and increasing participation from global scholars, this initiative aims to contribute meaningfully to the All Access Goals. Those interested can explore early access at nt.bible/website. The Biblica coalition welcomes prayer support, particularly for strong partnership among scholars and clear direction as the project progresses. Together, we envision this resource serving as an enduring testimony to how organizations and individuals can unite in making God’s Word more accessible to all.