Many have written to ask when the Transparent English Bible will be available in print and for purchase. Although we have not yet contracted with a trade publisher, the same agent I have used for my own publishing is very interested in taking on the TEB. When we reach that stage I have no doubt we will be able to secure a major mass market trade publisher that will offer us the kind of wide distribution and publicity that we would want. However, I don’t think we will see finished copies of the TEB in bookstores until 2012-2014, first the Hebrew Bible and then the Greek New Testament. We are still in the translation and editorial stages of the Project and its final preparation for publication, even when we are ready, will take up to two years, judging from my experience with trade publishers. In order to finish this project I will have to be at a place in my own professional life where I have completed my own administrative duties that have taken up 60% of my time the past four years, which will not be the case until May, 2010 at the earliest.

One possibility we are considering is the publication of the book of Genesis alone, with a major trade publisher, as early as 2009. This is a pattern that has been followed by a number of major translators in the past, including Everett Fox and Robert Alter, each of whom now have their versions of the Five Books of Moses on the market. I might just note here that each of these marvelous translations share much in common with the Transparent English Bible, so much so that I encourage readers to obtain these works but I am not consulting them in my own translation process in order to preserve independence. I might note here that Fox’s version of Genesis and Exodus was published in 1987, while his Five Books of Moses came out 1997, ten years later. Robert Alter published Genesis in 1996 and his Five Books of Moses in 2004. Both Fox and Alter have since published their versions of 1 & 2 Samuel as separate volumes and Alter has the book of Psalms out as well. I mention this just to illustrate that translations of this type, done by individual scholars, are going to be a minimum of two decades in the making, despite my earlier youthful optimism when I began in 1992 on the TEB.

What we are ready to do immediately though is begin to release what we have called Preliminary Translation Samples on the Web in PDF format here through this new Web site. These “Beta” versions are the same as the ones we are giving to our roster of academic experts for their professional feedback and evaluation. However, we are very much committed to also hearing fron non-specialist readers of the Bible who want to offer their suggestions and comments. Over the years I have found that thousands of such folk collectively, with or without the technical knowledge of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, come up with highly valuable insights and feedback. At one point I was concerned about making our translation available in this form all over the world for anyone to download and print out–free of charge! I have since decided that should not be a worry on our part. The material is copyrighted and I do not think its wide distribution will harm in any way our ultimate sales of the printed full version. In fact, if anything, I think the serial release of the TEB during 2007 and 2008, if anything, will only serve to whet the interest and appetites of our readers for more.

So, beginning in September, 2007 we began to put up a series of these Preliminary Translation Samples. As we continue to receive feedback from readers, both academic and non-specialist, I will be discussing some of the issues that have been raised here in this Web site. I am really looking forward to this process and welcome all of our hundreds of new readers to the OBP.