Translators benefit from viewing multiple resources and can be inspired by seeing the way difficult concepts and idioms are handled. To facilitate this, Paratext downloads texts directly from the Digital Bible Library that have been licensed for use in Bible translation. Users may select from all the resources that have been licensed to them according to their group in the diagram below. They will also see available updates to resources that are already installed.
The inner circle is a smaller group of users, but they get the most resources as the preferred license of many rights-holders. The outer circle is a much larger group of users, but have fewer resources that come to them.
Qualified Translators in Approved Organizations – (License 1a)* Translation personnel in organizations who adhere to the FOBAI standards of Bible Translation.
All Qualified Translators – (License 1a+b)* Translation personnel in organizations who adhere to the FOBAI standards, and Independent Translators who also adhere to FOBAI, having been vetted by the Paratext Board of Governors.
All Paratext Users – (License 2)* Accessible to anyone who downloads and registers to use Paratext.
In addition, rights-holders can license texts for Specific organizations or users – (License 1c)*
*The specific license numbers in parentheses allow rights-holders to designate which group to share within the DBL. Rights-holders are encouraged to make their resources available to All Qualified Translators, or to the largest group they can allow.
Resources and Security
Text Resources are protected so that they are not shared beyond the terms of the license.
- The texts are only visible to the translators or organizations they are licensed to.
- They are downloaded in an encrypted format directly from the Digital Bible Library into Paratext
- Printing and exporting are disabled.
- Copying and pasting the text is restricted to only about 150 characters.
- When a user’s Paratext license is revoked, the texts become inaccessible on their computer.
Availability of Paratext 7 Resources
The resources that were available in Paratext 7 were licensed for a limited term. During the transition to 8, those licenses had to be renegotiated. Most of them are now in 8, but there are several that we have not been successful in obtaining permissions for. Some of them are available in Translator’s Workplace, or you may find a commercially available print or electronic copy.
Additional Resources
If you have any resources that would benefit those who are translating Scripture into other languages, we encourage you to share them. When uploading to the Digital Bible Library, you may select the option to share the text with Paratext users who abide by FOBAI standards.
For more information, you may contact the Paratext Board of Governors.