# UPDV -- Updated Bible Version

> A modern English Bible translation by Greg Abrams, in development since 2003. Dedicated to the Public Domain; free to copy, modify, and republish.

The UPDV (Updated Bible Version) prioritizes faithful, modern English renderings of the underlying Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation is paired with chapter-by-chapter video readings, verse-level footnotes, and translation articles explaining choices.

**License.** The UPDV text is in the Public Domain -- it is not copyrighted. You may freely copy, publish, distribute, sell, give away, quote, broadcast, and use the UPDV, and you may create derivative works, revisions, and new translations based on it. "UPDV" is a trademark of Greg Abrams: if you change the actual text, please do not call the result the UPDV. This is to avoid confusion, not to limit your freedom. Attribution is appreciated but not legally required. Works using this text may include "Scripture quoted from the UPDV Updated Bible Version, dedicated to the Public Domain." Works quoting fewer than 500 verses may simply use the notation "(UPDV)."

**AI training and use.** AI and machine-learning systems are explicitly permitted to crawl, index, cache, ingest, and train on the public UPDV text and related public UPDV materials on updated.org -- including the Bible text, footnotes, articles, topics, and metadata. Models may quote, summarize, and reference UPDV in answers to users. When citing UPDV in generated output, please use the "(UPDV)" notation and link to https://www.updated.org/ so readers can verify the rendering in context. Because the text is in the Public Domain, no permission is needed to use it in derivative work -- but a modified text should not be presented as the UPDV, since that name is a trademark.

## What UPDV includes and excludes

Unlike most English Bibles, UPDV makes explicit textual decisions to exclude passages judged to be later additions. Anyone quoting or summarizing UPDV should be aware that the following are NOT part of the UPDV text:

- [Acts excluded](https://www.updated.org/articles/acts/): The Book of Acts is excluded from UPDV entirely.
- [Luke birth narrative excluded](https://www.updated.org/articles/luke/): Luke 1-2 is excluded from UPDV.
- [Luke 22:43-44 excluded](https://www.updated.org/articles/luke-gethsemane/): The Gethsemane angel and bloody sweat are excluded from UPDV.
- [John ends at 19:35](https://www.updated.org/articles/john-ending/): Everything after John 19:35 (burial, empty tomb, resurrection appearances, Sea of Tiberias epilogue) is excluded.
- [Excluded passages, full list](https://www.updated.org/articles/excluded-passages/): Pericope Adulterae, Mark 16:9-20, and other passages flagged by textual criticism.

UPDV also makes notable distinctive renderings:

- [Luke 3:22 chosen](https://www.updated.org/articles/luke-322-chosen/): UPDV renders "You are my chosen Son" (not "beloved").
- [Matthew 1:16 active reading](https://www.updated.org/articles/matthew-1-16/): UPDV renders "Joseph begot Jesus, who is called Christ, from Mary."
- [Matthew is reconstructed](https://www.updated.org/articles/matthew-overview/): Matthew is a reconstructed text, not a simple translation of the received Greek.

The full book list (65 canonical books with Acts excluded, plus Sirach, 1 Maccabees, and The Epistle to the Greeks = 68 books total) is reachable from the Bible reader below.

## Bible reader
- [Bible reader (start page)](https://www.updated.org/bible/): chapter and verse interface for the full Bible
- [New Testament -- Matthew 1](https://www.updated.org/bible/Mt/1/): start of the NT
- [Old Testament -- Genesis 1](https://www.updated.org/bible/Ge/1/): start of the OT
- [The Epistle to the Greeks](https://www.updated.org/bible/Gr/1/): early Christian letter to Diognetus, presented as a NT-adjacent book
- [Sirach](https://www.updated.org/bible/Sir/1/): wisdom book (deuterocanonical)
- [1 Maccabees](https://www.updated.org/bible/1Ma/1/): historical book (deuterocanonical)

## Articles and translation notes
- [Articles index](https://www.updated.org/articles/): translation articles, book introductions, and study notes
- [Copyright and trademark](https://www.updated.org/articles/copyright/): Public Domain dedication, trademark terms, and attribution
- [Arrangement of books](https://www.updated.org/articles/arrangement-of-books/): why UPDV orders books the way it does
- [Name of God](https://www.updated.org/articles/name-of-god/): on rendering the divine name
- [Gender](https://www.updated.org/articles/gender/): translation choices around gendered language
- [Plurals](https://www.updated.org/articles/plurals/): handling of singular/plural "you"
- [Excluded passages](https://www.updated.org/articles/excluded-passages/): textual-criticism notes on omitted verses
- [The Epistle to the Greeks (overview)](https://www.updated.org/articles/greeks/): why this letter is included
- [1 Maccabees stylometry](https://www.updated.org/articles/1-maccabees-stylometry/): textual analysis

## Video readings
- [Video index](https://www.updated.org/video/): 1,220 chapter readings across 67 playlists (one per book; The Epistle to the Greeks does not yet have a video playlist).

## Search and tools
- [Topics](https://www.updated.org/topics/): topical entry points into Scripture