Good News Bible quotation rights
Good News Bible illustrations by Annie Vallotton
Bible Maps and additional materials (including CEV)
Contemporary English Version and other Bible permissions
Bible Society video usage permissions
Bible illustrations by Horace Knowles/Louise Bass
Website(s), Word in Action, Prayer Bulletin and eNews
Other copyright queries
You must use the text from the second edition of the Good News Bible.
Bible Society is glad to grant authors and publishers the non-exclusive, non-assignable right to use up to one thousand (1,000) verses from the Good News Bible text in church, religious and other publications, without the need to seek and receive written permission. Provided that, the extent of quotation does not comprise a complete book, or amount to more than 50 per cent of the work and the publication is distributed for free.
The text should not be adapted in any way unless express written permission to do so is given by Bible Society.
The following copyright notice must appear on the title or copyright page:
‘Scriptures and additional materials quoted are from the Good News Bible © 1994 published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Good News Bible © American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992. Used with permission.’
Two copies of any publication quoting from GNB should be sent to the address below.
When quotations from GNB are used in non-saleable media, such as church bulletins, orders of service, posters, transparencies or similar media, a complete copyright notice is not required, but the initials GNB must appear at the end of each quotation.
Requests for quotations in excess of one thousand (1,000) verses in any free, non-commercial publication must be directed to and written approval received from Bible Society, Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon SN5 7DG.
All commercial requests must seek formal permission for use, regardless of the number of verses used. Commercial use permission may be subject to negotiated fees.
The free quota which applies to GNB text does not cover the illustrations.
To obtain permission to use the Annie Vallotton illustrations please contact: tdionisio@americanbible.org
Please contact Bible Society to obtain the necessary permission, if you wish to reproduce any of the following from the Good News Study Bible:
Please contact Bible Society to obtain the necessary permission for Contemporary English Version text and the additional materials contained in the Contemporary English Version.
Please see https://www.crossway.org/permissions/ for guidance on ESV permissions.
The KJV is Crown Copyright in the United Kingdom and public domain (freely available) in the rest of the world. For formal permission to use the text (within the UK), please contact Cambridge University Press.
For permissions guidelines, please visit: https://friendshippress.org/bible-licensing/licensing-and- permissions-guidelines/
For permissions guidelines please visit:
(For UK, EU and EEA) https://www.hodderbibles.co.uk/imprint/jmpd/hodderbibles/page/hodder-bibles-more/
(Elsewhere) https://www.biblica.com/resources/bible-faqs/how-do-i-license-the-niv/
Please contact Bible Society with any questions or requests regarding our Welsh Bible translations, such as the Beibl.net (BNET) and Beibl Cymraeg Newydd Diwygiedig (BCND).
For those requesting use of any Bible translation outside of the United Kingdom, we encourage you to check with your local Bible Society before contacting us, although we are happy to help as much as we can.
Bible Society publishes a variety of videos and frequently gets requests about the use of video content in church services or livestream events. We have set out our policy for the use of our videos below.
If your intended use goes beyond the guidelines set out below, or your request is of a commercial nature, please contact Bible Society directly for permissions and licensing.
You are allowed to embed and link to our videos on your church/other website, so long as the website is free to access, and you are embedding Bible Society videos that are also free to access (e.g. taken from our website or YouTube Channel, not paid-for content). Please note that the link should go directly to the Bible Society video, and not a downloaded and re-uploaded copy of the video on your church/personal website.
If a Bible Society video is released with an explicit download functionality, to be used within a church, group or personal setting, you are permitted to download it as instructed. However, we ask that you do not re-upload that video onto YouTube or any other video sharing sites (unless the instructions on the video say you can).
Bible Society permits the inclusion of certain videos in a livestreaming context under certain conditions:
a) The livestream must be for a church or church-related event
b) The videos used must be those made publically available for free by Bible Society (i.e. not paid content)
c) The video(s) used should be removed from any recording of the livestream and a link to the original provided in the description box or similar
d) If it is not feasible to remove the video, the following should be put into the description box of the recording:
[title of video] © Bible Society [year]. To find out more about the work of Bible Society, please visit www.biblesociety.org.uk
You are not permitted to re-upload Bible Society videos to any video sharing platform, including social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. Re-uploaded videos on these sites may be subject to copyright complaints and removal. If you have re-uploaded Bible Society content, we encourage you to delete the post, make the video private or otherwise remove it.
You are not permitted to stream any part of paid-for content publically, including video content from The Bible Course.
We understand that you love our videos and we want to help you share and use them. However, we must ensure that our copyright is respected so we have set out the above guidelines to help.
(Revised Standard Version Popular, Revised Standard Version Illustrated, New English Bible)
We are happy to grant non-exclusive permission for the use of the Knowles/Bass illustrations subject to the following conditions:
It is essential that the appropriate copyright acknowledgement is given to ensure that both Horace Knowles and Louise Bass are properly credited for their contribution to this collection of Bible illustrations
For those pictures with HK preceding the number in the catalogue, the acknowledgement should read:
Illustration(s) on page(s) x by Horace Knowles © The British and Foreign Bible Society 1954, 1967, 1972, 1995.
For those pictures with BK preceding the number in the catalogue, the acknowledgement should read:
Illustration(s) on page(s) x by Horace Knowles, revised by Louise Bass © The British and Foreign Bible Society 1994.
For those pictures with LB preceding the number in the catalogue, the acknowledgement should read:
Illustration(s) on page(s) x by Louise Bass © The British and Foreign Bible Society 1994.
The Scriptures concerned are to be distributed on a non-profit making basis.
A sample of each publication should be sent to Bible Society and American Bible Society libraries at the addresses shown below:
The Rights Administrator, Bible Society, Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon SN5 7DG
Rights Department, American Bible Society Library, 1865 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, USA
The following limits on the number of pictures used apply:
The publishers allow the equivalent of 35 full-page pictures for a New Testament
The maximum number of pictures allowed is 70. This includes maps unless they are located on the end papers of the book
Colour pictures are not included in the limit
In sizing pictures please consider:
A horizontally-shaped picture will fit nicely in a horizontally-shaped space. A vertically- shaped picture will fit nicely in a vertically-shaped space
A horizontal picture cannot fit into a vertical space without leaving unsightly space below and above the picture
A vertical picture can look fine in a horizontal or square space since the white space on either side of the picture blends in with the illustration
Pictures have movement: the directed motion of an illustration should go towards the centre of the book. For example, if a man is facing left it is recommended that his picture be on the right-hand page (which will be odd-numbered). If a picture of a colt is facing right it is advisable to place it on the left-hand page (which will be even-numbered), although this may not always be possible
If the usage you are proposing falls outside these parameters, or if you need further information or assistance, please contact Bible Society by emailing permissions@biblesociety.org.uk or telephone 01793 418222 (please allow one week for a response, and up to six weeks for an answer to any query).
You can use any of the material contained in Word in Action and Prayer in Action, from our website (www.biblesociety.org.uk) or from Bible Society eNews, as long as you use it in the context of promoting Bible Society’s work and you credit Bible Society as the source.
For copyright queries relating to any of the items below, please email contactus@biblesociety.org.uk or telephone 01793 418222 (please allow one week for a response, and up to six weeks for an answer to any query):
