Licensing policy

The Word of God is a free gift to everyone. But research and development are expensive. The UBS Greek New Testament is the result of lengthy and painstaking work by many scholars. This is why their work is protected by copyright. This applies not only to the base text (also called the ‘initial text’) but also to other parts of the edition such as the textual apparatus. This is because the selection and arrangement of the source texts demonstrates a high level of originality requiring legal protection.

The royalties generated from the UBS Greek New Testament are used for further research on the Bible text and for undertaking other key Bible Society work (see “About the German Bible Society” and “About the United Bible Societies”). Bible Societies do not make a profit from selling and licensing biblical texts. They are fully committed to their mission and there are no owners or shareholders to satisfy.

Small portions of the text (up to 100 consecutive verses) can be quoted without requesting a licence. They should just be accompanied by the following notice:

Greek Bible text from: The Greek New Testament, Fourth revised edition, Edited by Barbara Aland and others, © 1993 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

If you intend to use larger parts of the text or even the entire New Testament, you need written permission prior to publication. All requests should be sent to:

Mrs Beate Schubert
German Bible Society
Balinger Strasse 31 A
70567 Stuttgart
Germany

Email: schubert(at)dbg.de

All licence requests are treated equally. However, special terms are available to members of the United Bible Societies which require the text for missionary activities. They are also given priority in all publishing projects.