The Berean Standard Bible (BSB) is a modern English translation of the whole Bible, originally published as the Berean Study Bible. On April 30, 2023, its publishers dedicated it to the public domain, which makes it one of very few complete modern English translations that anyone may copy, print, quote at any length or build into an app without permission or fees. It reads much like the mainstream modern translations used in churches, and it is translated from the same kind of manuscript base as most of them.
If you're deciding whether to make it your main Bible, the section on what it's translated from is the one to read.
Where the name comes from
"Berean" points to a small scene in Acts, where Paul preaches in the town of Berea:
Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.
The name is a statement of intent: a Bible for people who check things for themselves. The translation is closely associated with Bible Hub, the free online study site, where it sits alongside interlinears and parallel translations for exactly that kind of checking.
What "public domain" means here
Almost every modern English Bible is under copyright. Publishers usually allow you to quote a limited number of verses with a notice, and ask for permission beyond that. For a sermon handout that's rarely a problem. For a printed devotional, a reading app, a song lyric sheet or a translation into another format, it can be.
The BSB removes that question. You can reproduce any amount of it, for any purpose, without asking. The publishers say attribution is appreciated but not required, and make one request: if you change the text, don't call your altered version the Berean Standard Bible. That's reasonable, and it protects readers from edited copies circulating under the original name.
It's why you'll increasingly see the BSB in newer apps and on websites that print whole chapters. Our guide to public-domain Bibles covers the older free translations it joins.
How it reads
The BSB is written in plain contemporary English, a little more formal than conversational. It keeps familiar phrasing where the tradition has settled on it, so Psalm 23 opens exactly as most people know it, and then moves into present-day wording:
1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
3He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.
A few features you'll notice quickly:
- Pronouns for God are capitalized. "He," "His," "You." Some readers find this helpful for following who is speaking; others find it distracting. Most major modern translations, including the NIV and ESV, don't do it.
- "LORD" in small capitals stands for God's personal name in the Hebrew text, the same convention used in the KJV and nearly every English Bible since.
- Supplied words are marked. Where the translators added a word English needs but the original doesn't have, the publisher's text marks it, and many editions show those words in italics. The practice is familiar from the King James; the BSB's own files mark around twenty thousand of them.
- Red letters are available in the publisher's own files, which mark the words of Jesus. Not every copy online keeps that markup, so if red letters matter to you, check the source. (More on that in our piece on red-letter Bibles.)
What it's translated from
Like the NIV, ESV and most translations made in the last century, the BSB follows the Hebrew Masoretic Text for the Old Testament and, for the New Testament, the older Greek manuscripts favored by modern critical editions. The King James Version, by contrast, was translated from the Greek text available in 1611, later called the Textus Receptus.
The practical difference shows up in sixteen verses. The BSB keeps their numbers, but moves their text to a footnote with a note that later manuscripts include them:
Matthew 17:21, 18:11 and 23:14; Mark 7:16, 9:44, 9:46, 11:26 and 15:28; Luke 17:36 and 23:17; John 5:4; Acts 8:37, 15:34, 24:7 and 28:29; and Romans 16:24.
Two longer passages, the ending of Mark (16:9–20) and the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53–8:11), stay in the text with a footnote explaining that some early manuscripts don't include them. The closing line of the Lord's Prayer, "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen," is in a footnote at Matthew 6:13, and so is the longer wording of 1 John 5:7.
None of this is unusual. The NIV and ESV handle the same verses in much the same way. But if you're coming from the KJV or NKJV, you'll notice the gaps, and it's better to know why before you hit one.
BSB next to the KJV
Because both are free, the BSB and the KJV often sit side by side in apps. A few pairs show the distance between them:
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
"Be careful for nothing" meant "don't be full of care" in 1611. Today it sounds like advice to be reckless. The BSB's "be anxious for nothing" says what the verse says, in words that still mean it.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Where the KJV has "given by inspiration of God," the BSB uses "God-breathed," a closer rendering of the single Greek word, and the same choice the NIV makes. Our side-by-side comparison of the KJV and BSB goes through eleven passages like these.
Should you use it?
It's a good fit if:
- you want a readable modern translation and have no strong attachment to one already;
- you write, teach or make things with Scripture and are tired of permissions and verse limits;
- you want a second translation beside the KJV that uses the same kind of manuscripts as most modern Bibles.
It's less ideal if your church reads aloud from a different translation every week and you want to follow along word for word, or if you rely on a study Bible's notes, since print study editions of the BSB are far fewer than for the NIV or ESV.
The short version
The Berean Standard Bible is a careful, readable modern translation in the same family as the NIV and ESV, with one thing none of them offer: it belongs to everyone. For reading, it's a solid first Bible. For anyone who wants to share Scripture freely, it may be the best option available in English.