Many of you have written in over the years to request adding the New English Translation—more commonly known as the NET Bible—to Bible Gateway’s library. We’re proud to announce today that the NET Bible is now available on Bible Gateway! You can get started reading it in Genesis, Matthew, or browse it by Bible book.

Here’s how the NET Bible translates the opening verses of Genesis:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.

And here’s the beloved verse John 3:16 in the NET Bible:

For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

The main goal of the NET Bible’s 25-person translation team was to create a version of the Bible that was more freely accessible than other Bible translations at the time. To that end, their translation process was guided by openness. They embraced transparency throughout their work, even going so far as to “beta-test” the NET Bible online:

In this beta-testing process all working drafts of the NET Bible were posted on www.bible.org for public review and comment. The significance of this is that the NET Bible team, from day one, has been listening to its readers.

Head over to the NET Bible page on Bible Gateway to read more about this exciting addition to our library!