The Holy Scriptures are a collection of books and letters written by many people who were inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. These books tell us how we can be saved from the evil of this world and gain eternal life that is truly worth living. Although the Holy Scriptures contain rules of conduct, it is not just a rule book. It reveals God’s heart—a Father’s heart, full of love and compassion. The Holy Scriptures tell you what you need to know and believe to be saved from sin and evil and how to live a life that is truly worth living, no matter what your current circumstances may be.

The Holy Scriptures consist of two main sections: the Old Testament (including Psalms and Proverbs) and the New Testament (Matthew through Revelation). The Old Testament records God’s interaction with mankind before He sent His son to redeem us, and records prophesy predicting that coming. The New Testament tells us of God’s Son and Anointed One, Jesus, and the wonderful salvation that He purchased for us.

Pray for the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father sends in his Son's name, who will teach you all things. (John 14:26)

The Old Testament was originally written mostly in Hebrew. The New Testament was originally written mostly in the common street Greek (Aramaic, not the formal Greek used for official legal matters). The Holy Scriptures are translated into many languages, and being translated into many more, so that everyone may have an opportunity to hear the Good News about Jesus Christ.

The Glass Scriptures use the name Yehowah יהוה God as a modern transliteration for YHWH.

The Glass Scriptures are the personal study scriptures of Angela Marié Niblick-Baxley Glass. They are a work in progress, and are updated at times to include translation fixes, new or updated cross-references, and footnotes.

The Glass Scriptures are an update of the World English Bible (2015) which is itself based off of the American Standard Version (ASV) of the Holy Scriptures (1901). A custom computer program updated the archaic words and word forms to contemporary equivalents, and then a team of volunteers proofread and updated the grammar. The New Testament was updated to conform to the Majority Text reconstruction of the original Greek manuscripts, thus taking advantage of the superior access to manuscripts that we have now compared to when the original ASV was translated.

The style of The Glass Scriptures, while fairly literally translated, is in informal, spoken English. The Glass Scriptures are designed to sound good and be accurate when read aloud. It is not formal in its language, just as the original Greek of the New Testament was not formal. The TGS uses contractions rather freely.

The Glass Scriptures doesn’t capitalize pronouns pertaining to God. The original manuscripts made no such distinction. Hebrew has no such thing as upper and lower case, and the original Greek manuscripts were written in all upper case letters. Attempting to add in such a distinction raises some difficulties in translating dual-meaning Scriptures such as the coronation psalms.

The Glass Scriptures main edition translates God’s Proper Name in the Old Testament as “Yehowah יהוה.” The Messianic Edition and the British Edition of The Glass Scriptures translates the same name as “LORD” (all capital letters), or when used with “Lord” (mixed case, translated from “Adonai”,) GOD. There are solid translational arguments for both traditions.

Because The Glass Scriptures uses the Majority Text as the basis for the New Testament, you may notice the following differences in comparing the TGS to other translations:

With all of the above and some other places where lack of clarity in the original manuscripts has led to multiple possible readings, significant variants are listed in footnotes. The reading that in our prayerful judgment is best is in the main text. Overall, The Glass Scriptures doesn’t differ very much from several other good contemporary English translations of the Holy Scriptures. The message of Salvation through Jesus Christ is still the same. The point of this translation was not to be very different except for use of “Yehowah יהוה” as God's name.

The Glass Scriptures are an ecumenical project that includes books included in Bibles in many denominations. The main 66 books of the Old and New Testaments are recognized as Scripture by all true Christians. There are also books considered to be part of, depending on which book and who you ask, Deuterocanon, Apocrypha, and Pseudepigrapha.

The following books and parts of books are recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Russian Orthodox Churches: Tobit, Judith, Esther from the Greek Septuagint, The Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (also called The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach), Baruch, The Song of the Three Holy Children, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees. In this edition, The Letter of Jeremiah is included as chapter 6 of Baruch. Three of those books come from parts of Daniel found in the Greek Septuagint, but not the Hebrew Old Testament: The Song of the Three Holy Children, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon. These 11 books, plus the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments comprise the 88 books in the Roman Catholic Bible.

The following books are recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches, but not the Roman Catholic Church: 1 Esdras, The Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, and 3 Maccabees. Note that 1 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh are also in an appendix to the Latin Vulgate Bible.

The Slavonic Bible includes 2 Esdras, but calls it 3 Esdras. This same book is in the Appendix to the Latin Vulgate as 4 Esdras.

An appendix to the Greek Septuagint contains 4 Maccabees. It is included for its historical value.

Among Christian denominations and among individual Christians, opinions vary widely on the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha, as do the collective names they give them. Many regard them as useful in gaining additional understanding of the Old and New Testaments and the hand of God in history, even if they don’t give them the same status as the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. They are included here in support of the churches and individuals who read them and use them, as separate from, but frequently used with, the core canon of the 66 books of the Holy Scriptures.

In the footnotes, MT refers to the Greek Majority Text New Testament, which is the authoritative basis for this translation. TR stands for Textus Receptus, which is the Greek Text from which the King James Version New Testament was translated. NU stands for the Nestle-Aland/UBS critical text of the Greek New Testament, which is used as a basis for some other Bible translations.

For answers to frequently asked questions about The Glass Scriptures, please visit oBible.org.