Where’s the ISV gone?
From A collection of short essays. Project references reflect the source essay; see our current status.
Disclaimer: We have no inside information about the ISV team, other than a small amount of friendly, personal correspondence with Dr. William Welty several years ago. Do you know more? Please tell us.
According to their beautiful ISV website, the ISV Foundation was sponsoring the new International Standard Version (ISV) Bible. For example, from 2018 until mid-2021, the website boasted:
Introducing the Holy Bible:
International Standard Version
The ISV has been described by independent critics as the most readable and accurate modern English language Bible ever produced. Produced in modern conversational English, the ISV is easily readable by those for whom English is their second language. For international readers, the grammar, vocabulary, and structure of the ISV is consistent with and compatible with American-based English as a language of international commerce.
Good News! Leather & Hardback ISV Bibles to be Printed Soon
Starting in May 2011, literally millions of people around the world have been using the International Standard Version (ISV) Bible in electronic format using apps and programs from companies such as..... We anticipate release date of these items sometime during the early Spring of 2019, perhaps as early as Resurrection Day (Sunday, March 21, 2019). We will post updates as they are available.
That quote came from the wayback machine at https://web.archive.org/web/20210309160638/https://www.isv.org/bible/. Shortly afterwards, the ISV.org domain became available for sale, because Dr. William Welty, the main driver behind the ISV had passed away in July 2019.
Dr. Welty had a generous approach to use of the ISV, and happily provided the source files. (I have some dated in the 2007-2011 range.) But now that he’s gone, where can you find the latest files? What’s the licence now? The source files seem to have disappeared along with the website.
This is one reason why we encourage you all, and especially those of us in our later years, to put the Bible resources that you’ve developed into a public repository with an open licence, or at least, leave instructions in your will for your relatives to do this (and maybe put into the public domain). The ISV is just one example of many. How much useful and valuable translation and lexicon work has disappeared after the death of their creators?
Robert Hunt, Freely-Given.org, May 2023