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English that matches the Greek

You liked NKJV — so do we for Masoretic precision. But NKJV's Old Testament is translated from the Masoretic Text (MT), not the Septuagint. If roots are LXX+GNT, the English you read in the OT should be from LXX too. Roger's FedoraBible taught us how to do that cleanly.

⚠️ The NKJV trap copyrighted

NKJV is Thomas Nelson, 1982 — not public domain. Fedora's data/sources/SOURCE.md:1explicitly excludes NIV/ESV/NKJV/NASB: "hosting their full text isn't something this project does." Metanoia ships verses version='NKJV' 31,102 as src/bible_db.zig:476 DEFAULT_VERSION— that's the trap (beautiful, but MT + licensed).

Fedora keeps OT English as lxx-en/ Brenton USFM (PD) + lxx-gr/Swete Greek (PD text, CC BY-SA transcription). KJV/WLC/Peshitta are PD/free. We're copying that split: LXX-English stays PD, MT-English moves to PD too.

Primary — LXX English (from Greek) Primary

What you read when ot_source=lxx (default) · manifest.primacy='primary'

Brenton 1851 LXXE primary

USFM via eBible.org (eng-Brenton_usfm.zip) · Public domain · 27,058 verses · 39 books, Daniel = Theodotion

Import: tools/bible/import_brenton_septuagint.py → data/db/verses.lxxe.db (verses.version='LXXE', ~5.2 MB)

LXXM LXXM optional modernized Brenton

Deterministic post-process thou→you, hath→has, doth→does, shalt→shall — no re-scrape: tools/bible/modernize_brenton.py → verses.lxxm.db (version='LXXM', still PD)

Archaic thee/thou is faithful to LXX Vorlage — LXXM keeps the same scholarship without the Elizabethan pronouns. License: PD (Brenton 1851) — see docs/DB_SHARDING.md + docs/FEDORA_AUDIT.md §9.

Comparison — MT English (from Hebrew) comparison · buried

PD only · opt-in via manifest.bundle=false — primacy: comparison/optional/buried

WEB — World English Bible — PD (ebible.org, modern ASV 1901 base) · 31k vv

comparison

Replaces NKJV as the PD MT-English. Import: tools/bible/import_web.py (eng-web_usfm.zip USFM, same shape as Brenton + Fedora's import-translation.js JSON fallback) → verses.web.db (version='WEB')

KJV (1769) — PD in US, Crown in UK — 31,102 vv via aruljohn/Bible-kjv

optional

YLT (1862) — PD, hyper-literal fringe

optional

NKJV — Thomas Nelson, 1982 — 31,102 vv

buried → removed

PD English ships via Fedora's scripts/import-translation.js per-book JSON shape (one JSON per book) — or directly from USFM — → verses.web.db / verses.kjv.db shards — primacy: comparison/optional, bundle:false. Same predicate as tools/bible/split_db.py:46 verses.version='WEB'. NKJV shard becomes bundle:false then removed.

How Roger ships it — and our plan

Per-version file + license table + parallel tabs — then manifest

Per-version file before merge: Fedora keeps data/sources/kjv/*.json + lxx-en/*.usfm + lxx-gr/*.txt — then one-file build only at the end. We reverse it: stay split at runtime — data/db/verses.lxxe.db vs verses.web.db (sharded, ATTACH).
License table per source: Fedora's SOURCE.md lists license + verse count + import shape. Our manifest.json does the same with primacy + bundle flags — 7 shards today (see Docs → Database).
Parallel tabs, not replacement:Fedora's linked tabs (each keeping its own translation while turning pages together) let you compare LXXE vs WEB without picking a winner — better than swapping NKJV for WEB.

1. Keep LXXE as default OT English (src/main.zig:417 when ot_source=lxx)

2. Add WEB shard via scripts/import-translation.js shape — PD, modern NKJV-adjacent readability

3. Mark NKJV shard bundle:false then remove after WEB ships — fixes the licensing trap

4. Optional LXXM modernized Brenton — deterministic thee/thou pass, stays PD

Shout-out: FedoraBible live + github/cybertech99/FedoraBible — licenses in data/sources/SOURCE.md + §9 of docs/FEDORA_AUDIT.md.

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