Features of God’s Word®

Layout

The features that distinguish God’s Word from other Bible translations are designed to aid readers. Most Bibles present the biblical text in one of two ways: either all text is presented in two columns (most Bibles) or all text is presented in a single column. The GW Thinline Edition and GW Compact Edition present text in the way best suited for each book of the Bible. Books that are primarily prose are presented in a two-column format that creates shorter, easier-to-read lines. Books that are primarily poetry are presented in a single-column format that beautifully presents poetry and highlights parallelism, a key element of Hebrew poetry.

In prose, GW looks like other works of literature. It contains frequent paragraphing. Whenever a different speaker’s words are quoted, a new paragraph begins. Lists, genealogies, and long prayers are formatted to help readers recognize the thought pattern of the text. The prose style of GW favors concise, clear sentences. While avoiding very long, complicated sentences, which characterize many English Bible translations, GW strives to vary the word arrangement in a natural way. Doing this enhances readability and brings the Scriptures to life.

The books that are primarily poetry in GW are instantly recognized by their format. The single-column format enables readers to recognize parallel thoughts in parallel lines of poetry. In a single-column, across-the-page layout, a variety of indentations are possible. The translators have used indentation to indicate the relationship of one line to others in the same context. This enables a person reading the Bible in English to appreciate the Bible’s poetry in much the same way as a person reading the Bible in the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek.

Punctuation, Capitalization

In English, meaning is conveyed not only by words but also by punctuation. However, no punctuation existed in ancient Hebrew and Greek writing, and words were used where English would use punctuation marks. God’s Word strives to use standard English punctuation wherever possible. At times this means that a punctuation mark or paragraph break represents the meaning that could only be expressed in words in Hebrew or Greek.

Italics are also used as they would be in other printed English texts: for foreign words or to indicate that a word is used as a word. (GW never uses italics to indicate emphasis.)

Wherever possible, GW has supplied information in headings or half-brackets to identify the speaker in quoted material. To minimize the confusion produced by quotations within quotations, quotation marks are used sparingly. For instance, they are not used after formulaic statements such as “This is what the Lord says: …”

Contractions can fit comfortably into many English sentences. Certainly, “Don’t you care that we’re going to die” is more natural than, “Do you not care that we are going to die?” GW achieves a warmer style by using contractions where appropriate. But uncontracted words are used in contexts that require special emphasis.

GW capitalizes the first letter in proper nouns and sentences and all the letters in the word LORD when it represents Yahweh, the name of God in the Old Testament. Some religious literature chooses to capitalize pronouns that refer to the deity. As in the original languages, GW does not capitalize any pronouns (unless they begin sentences). In some cases scholars are uncertain whether pronouns in the original texts refer to God or someone else. In these cases the presence of capitalized pronouns would be misleading. Additionally, in some cases Hebrew or Greek pronouns are not ambiguous but an English pronoun would be. In those cases, GW uses the appropriate proper noun in its place.