New Heart English Bible
While there are many Bible translations available, few are in the public domain in modern English, and even fewer in the public domain are based on the latest textual criticism using all available manuscripts. The goal of the New Heart English Bible (NHEB) is to meet these requirements.
Since the original autographs of the biblical books are no longer extant, and in the human enterprise of hand copying mistakes are likely, textual criticism with review of all the manuscripts and relevant editions is necessary in order to recover the authentic text.
Concerning divine names in the Old Testament: in Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6 and James 2:23 one finds “God” in the quote of Genesis 15:6, and LXX Genesis 15:6 also has “God,” while MT has “Yahweh.” Luke 4:4 has God in the quote of Deuteronomy 8:3, and LXX Deuteronomy 8:3 also has God, while MT has Yahweh. There are over 20 cases in Genesis where the shortest reading among manuscripts has God while MT has added Yahweh.
There are also many places in Genesis where LXX, DSS and other manuscripts read God while MT reads Yahweh. It has been noted that “none of the names in the Bible up until the time of the generation born after the Exodus include the suffix Yah or Yahu. This is consistent with the Biblical account in Exodus 6:2-3,” where God says that He appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, but did not make Himself known to them by His name Yahweh.
Of course, this does not exclude the possibility that prior to Jacob God may have made His name Yahweh known to others. For a brief time at Ebla theophoric el was replaced with ya, and there is the name Moriah (Gen 22:2). However, concerning the manuscripts, arguing that the name Yahweh was actually known to Abraham (Genesis 14:22 MT; 22:14 MT), Isaac (Genesis 26:22 MT), Jacob (Genesis 27:20 MT), and previously (Eve in Genesis 4:1 MT; Noah in Genesis 9:26 MT) based on the Masoretic Hebrew text is circular reasoning.
The evidence of other manuscripts (and Exodus 6:3) suggest that the name Yahweh was probably not known prior to Moses. Some scribes of Genesis apparently did not like the fact that the text read only God, and subsequently changed many instances of God to Yahweh, or just added Yahweh, which was done rather arbitrarily without consistency, leaving many large areas with just God untouched.
In consideration of divine names in places other than Genesis, the manuscripts suggest that some scribes did not like pronouncing Yahweh, and subsequently added Lord (adonai), or changed Yahweh to Lord. The interchange of divine names and divine name additions among manuscripts are well known in text criticism, but few editors and translators have attempted to restore the divine names back to the original. The NHEB is the result of considering all the manuscripts, parallel verses and quotes in ancient commentaries.
The NHEB and versions are available here as Text and PDF files, and are also available through the MySword app (Android), BibleHub, and some BibleBento versions (iOS). A text critical Hebrew OT is available below in PDF and RTF files.
The New Heart English Bible (NHEB) and versions NHEB-JE, NHEB-JM, NHEB-ME, NHEB-AN, and NHEB-YHWH are not copyrighted and are dedicated to the Public Domain by the editors and translators.
No one may copyright the NHEB, its versions, or any other file edited by Wayne A. Mitchell. No one may trademark the above noted files. Without changing the text, you may publish, copy, translate, quote, and use the NHEB and versions, and any other file edited by Wayne A. Mitchell freely without additional permission.
NHEB in print? The NHEB New Testament is available from TheBiblePeople. A complete print version of the NHEB for home or public reading is not currently available.
FILES:
NHEB docx. NEW!!! NHEB for Printing. MSWord docx. 4,651 footnotes. Public Domain. (Updated 6-13-25, 2.36 pm)
NHEB txt. Standard Edition. Text line-by-line format. Public Domain. (Updated 11-18-25)
NHEB txt formatted for import to Accordance Bible program. (Updated 5-08-25)
NHEB txt in line-by-line rtf format with some references. Public Domain. (Updated 5-08-25)
NHEB YH txt. Special Edition Yahweh. Public Domain. (Updated 11-18-25)
NHEB pdf. Standard Edition. Abt. 6,605 footnotes. TOC Page numbers updated 4-28-21. Public Domain. (Updated 5-31-25)
NHEB ME pdf. Special Edition: Messianic. Abt. 4470 footnotes. TOC Page numbers updated 6-10-21. Public Domain. (Updated Genesis 8:21 fixed. Updated 08-9-24)
NHEB JM pdf. Special Edition: Jesus Messiah. Abt. 1680 footnotes. Public Domain. (Updated Genesis 8:21 fixed. Updated 08-09-24)
NHEB JE pdf. Special Edition: Jehovah. Abt. 3960 footnotes. Public Domain. (Updated Genesis 8:21 fixed. Updated 08-09-24)
NHEB NT AN pdf. Special Edition: Aramaic Names. Abt. 1720 footnotes. Public Domain. (Updated Genesis 8:21 fixed. Updated 08-09-24)
NHEB YHWH pdf. Special Edition: YHWH. Abt. 6515 footnotes. Public Domain. (Updated Genesis 8:21 fixed. Updated 08-17-24)
MTH pdf. Text Critical Hebrew OT: Mitchell Tanakh Hebrew (MTH) with nikud, edited by Wayne A. Mitchell. Public Domain, 2015-2025. (Updated 12-15-25)
HB pdf. The Hebrew Bible (HB): Tanakh (text critical) and Brit Hadasha. (Updated 4-1-25)
NEW AT MYSWORD.INFO: The Berean Standard Bible (BSB) was dedicated to the public domain on April 30, 2023. The BSB was used as a base text and was conformed to the text critical Hebrew Aramaic and text critical Greek editions edited by Wayne A. Mitchell (see module HGPD), and is called "All The Manuscripts" Bible (module ATM; 2025). Module ATM uses LORD for the divine name, ATM-YH uses Yahweh, ATM-JE uses Jehovah, and ATM-ME uses some Messianic terms and names, while ATM-AN uses some Aramaic terms and names in the New Testament.
See also: Scribal Skips: 1700 Words That Fell Out of the Bible (2025).
Note that the official New Heart English Bible site is only here at nheb.net. If you see a social media or other site claiming to be an official New Heart English Bible site, it’s not.