Cover not available

In:A (Re)turn to the Source Text
Edited by Malin Carlström and Richard Pleijel
[Benjamins Translation Library 169] 2026
► pp. 171–198

Get fulltext
PDF logo with download linkDownload Chapter PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Chapter EPUB

The Bible going digital

Medial change, paratexts, and source texts in Youversion’s platforms

 | Agder University
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 20 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.169.06bec
Abstract
This chapter investigates how the digital transformation affects the visibility of source texts when printed Bible translations transition into apps and websites on YouVersion’s platforms. YouVersion is one of the most popular digital platforms for Bible translation today and offers access to digital Bibles through the website Bible​.com and the “Bible” app for smartphones and tablets. Four Bible translations are examined as case studies: Contemporary English Version 2006, English Standard Version 2016, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021, and the Norwegian Bibel 2011. The analysis reveals that the references to source texts, prevalent in print editions, either disappear or are significantly reduced in digital conversions. Contrary to previous studies suggesting that digital Bibles enhance fluidity and reduce stability, this study argues that the absence of source text information in digital editions reinforces the notion of a singular, stable source text for “the Bible.”
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The selection of translations
  • 2.YouVersion
  • 3.Defining the paratext of printed and digital Bibles
  • 4.The paratext of Bible.com and the mobile app
  • 5.Case studies: The source text in printed and digital Bibles
    • 5.1Contemporary English version, print version
      • 5.1.1CEV on Bible.com and in the App
    • 5.2English Standard Version, print version (2016)
      • 5.2.1ESV on Bible.com and in the app
    • 5.3The New Revised Standard Version updated edition, print version (2021)
      • 5.3.1NRSVue on Bible.com and in the App
    • 5.4Bibel 2011, print version (2011)
      • 5.4.1Bibel 2011 on Bible.com and in the App
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
References (56)
References
American Bible Society. 2006. Holy Bible. Contemporary English Version. New York: American Bible Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
American Bible Society. 2024a. Contemporary English Version. [URL]
. 2024b. Contemporary English Version. Bible. Apple App Store. Version 9.33.3.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Batchelor, Kathryn. 2018. Translation and Paratexts. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beal, Timothy. 2011. The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book. New York: Mariner.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beckmann, Morten. 2020. “Negotiating Christology: The Translation of Colossians 1:15 as a Case Study.” In Nordic Interpretations of the New Testament: Challenging Texts and Perspectives, ed. by Louise Heldgaard Bylund, René Falkenberg, Marianne Bjelland Kartzow, and Kasper Bro Larsen, 75–102. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2025. “Ideology, Power, and a Virgin: Translations of Isaiah 7:14 in Norwegian Bible Translations as a Case Study.” Target. International Journal of Translation Studies, 37(3), 414–443. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bibelselskapet. 2011. Den Hellige Skrift. Bibelen. Det gamle og Det nye testamentet [The Bible or the Holy Scripture: The canonical books of the Old and New Testament]. Oslo: Bibelselskapet.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024a. Bibel 2011 bokmål [Bibel 2011 bokmål]. [URL]
. 2024b. Bible. Apple App Store. Version 9.33.3.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Birke, Dorothee, and Birte Christ. 2013. “Paratext and Digitized Narrative: Mapping the Field.” Narrative 21 (1): 65–87. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clivaz, Claire. 2014. “New Testament in Digital Culture: A Biblaridion (Little Book) Lost in the Web?” Journal of Religion, Media & Digital Culture 3 (3): 20–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crisafulli, Edoardo. 1999. “The Translator as Textual Critic and the Potential of Transparent Discourse.” The Translator 5 (1): 83–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crossway. 2016. The Holy Bible. English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024a. English Standard Version 2016. [URL]
. 2024b. About the ESV. [URL]
. 2024c. Subscribe. [URL]
Desrochers, Nadine, and Daniel Apollon. 2014. “Preface.” In Examining Paratextual Theory and Its Application in Digital Culture, ed. by Nadine Desrochers and Daniel Apollon, xx–xxvi. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft/United Bible Societies. 1993. The Greek New Testament (4th rev. ed.), ed. by Barbara Aland, Kurt Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ford, David G. 2019. “The (Un)Stable Digital Bible: A Destabilising Peritext and Stabilising Epitext.” Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture 8: 361–381. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Genette, Gérard. 1997. Paratexts: Threshold of Interpretation. Translated by Jane E. Lewin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holder, R. Ward. 2016. “Erasmus and the Novum Instrumentum: Littera scripta manet.” Church History and Religious Culture 96: 491–497. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hutchings, Tim. 2015. “E-Reading and the Christian Bible.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 44 (4): 423–440. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “Augmented Graves and Virtual Bibles. Digital Media and Material Religion.” In Materiality and the Study of Religion, ed. by Tim Hutchings and Joanne McKenzie, 85–99. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Justnes, Årstein, and Tor Vegge. 2013. “Ny vin i skinninnbinding: Bruken av senere håndskrifter i Bibelselskapets oversettelser av Det nye testamentet” [New wine in leather binding: the use of later manuscripts in the Bible Society’s translations of the New Testament]. In Ny Bibel, nye perspektiver, ed. by Hallvard Hagelia, Årstein Justnes, and Tor Vegge, 173–194. Kristiansand: Portal forlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kloppenburg, Geerhard. 2013. Paratext in Bible Translations with Special Reference to Selected Bible Translations into Beninsee Languages. Texas: SIL International. [URL]. Accessed May 13, 2024.
Knust, Jennifer, and Tommy Wasserman. 2018. To Cast the First Stone: The Transmission of a Gospel Story. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Life.Church. 2023a. Bible. App Store Preview. [URL]. Accessed 4 September, 2024.
. 2023b. [URL]. Accessed 5 September, 2024.
. 2023c. Correspondence 8 December, 2024.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024a. [URL]. Accessed 16 January, 2025.
. 2024b. Bible. Apple App Store. Version 9.33.3.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024c. Mission. [URL]. Accessed 16 January, 2025.
. 2024d. Correspondence 13 January, 2025.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024e. Correspondence 2 February, 2025.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lopes, Alexandra. 2012. “Under the Sign of Janus: Reflections on Authorship as Liminality in Translated Literature.” Revista Anglo Saxonica 3: 129–155.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mann, Joshua L. 2018. “How Technology Means: Texts, History, and Their Associated Technologies.” DHQ: Digital Humanities Quarterly 12 (3). [URL]
2020. “Paratexts and the Hermeneutics of Digital Bibles.” In From Scrolls to Scrolling: Sacred Texts, Materiality, and Dynamic Media Cultures, ed. by Bradford A. Anderson, 247–262. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Metzger, Bruce, and Bart Ehrman. 2005. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. 1989. Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2021. Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024a. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021. [URL]
. 2024b. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021 (NRSVUE). Bible. Apple App Store. Version 9.33.3.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parker, D. C. 2003. “Through a Screen Darkly: Digital Texts and the New Testament.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 25 (4): 395–411. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2008. An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pleijel, Richard. 2022. “At the Threshold of the Sacred: Paratextual Retranslation and Institutional Mediation through Footnotes in a Roman Catholic Edition of the New Testament.” In Paratexts in Translation: Nordic Perspectives, ed. by Richard Pleijel and Malin Podlevskikh Carlström, 57–92. Berlin: Frank & Timme. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pressman, Corey. 2014. “Post-Book Paratext: Designing for Haptic Harmony.” In Examining Paratextual Theory and Its Application in Digital Culture, ed. by Nadine Desrochers and Daniel Apollon, 334–348. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rockenberger, Annika. 2014. “Video Game Framings.” In Examining Paratextual Theory and Its Application in Digital Culture, ed. by Nadine Desrochers and Daniel Apollon, 252–286. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siker, Jerry S. 2017. Liquid Scripture: The Bible in a Digital World. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2020. “The Bible and Digital Media.” In The Bible in the American Experience, ed. by Claudia Setzer and David A. Shefferman, 35–68. Atlanta: SBL Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smyth, Patrick. 2014. “E-Books and the Digital Paratext: Emerging Trends in the Interpretation of Digital Media.” In Examining Paratextual Theory and Its Application in Digital Culture, ed. by Nadine Desrochers and Daniel Apollon, 314–333. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tahir-Gürçağlar, Şehnaz. 2011. “Paratexts.” In Handbook of Translation Studies Volume 2, ed. by Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer, 113–116. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
United Bible Societies. 1983. The Greek New Testament (3rd ed.), ed. by Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, and Allan Wikgren. London: United Bible Societies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
United Bible Societies. 2024. About DBL Product Summary. [URL]. Accessed 15 January.
Wagner, Rachel. 2012. Godwired: Religion, Ritual and Virtual Reality. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue