Offene Bibel ("Open Bible") is an ecumenical internet project that aims at creating a freely available German translation of the Bible. Similar to projects like Wikipedia, the translation is a collaborative effort by a community of many volunteers who contribute their own translations of Bible passages.
Offene Bibel consists of two versions following different translation methods: The first translation (called Studienfassung, "study version") is a philological, formal-equivalence translation that marks additions and omissions (similar to the Amplified Bible) and displays alternative translations in brackets. Translation decisions and relevant background knowledge are documented in extensive footnotes (similar to the NET Bible). Based on this version as a source, a second, dynamic-equivalence version (Lesefassung, "reading version") is created that aims at readability. Quality assurance processes have been put in place to ascertain the high quality of the finished product. Further projects like a version in Plain Language as well as beginnings of an ecumenical Commentary, Bible Dictionary and an Original Languages Grammar and Dictionary have been initiated.
Offene Bibel was started in 2009. A supporting association was founded in 2010. The first chapter of the study translation was finished in 2011. As of early 2013, the translation is well underway as there are five finished chapters of the study version and several more in the works. In addition, several drafts of reading version chapters as well as several pages within the supporting projects have been created. All texts are placed under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-SA 3.0).