Stop 8. Where the NET sits

Now go back to the top of the right-hand twig and find the gold leaf. This is the NET, the New English Translation.

The NET is a fresh translation. About twenty-five scholars made it from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. No older English Bible stands between it and the roots. For the Old Testament, it uses the standard Hebrew text and keeps the Greek Old Testament in view. For the New Testament, it uses a modern Greek text that weighs the old copies. That puts it in the same family as the NIV, the ESV and the CSB. It is not a different Bible underneath.

What sets the NET apart is its notes. A translator’s note is a short note at the bottom of the page where the translators explain a choice. The NET has close to 60,000 of them. Think of a student who shows their work in math class. You can follow the steps, and you can check them.

We tested that. We compared the NET with other Bibles at eight verses where the copies disagree. Here is what we found.

The NET does show its work. Its notes are far longer than most footnotes. At Isaiah 53:11 the NET has four notes, about 450 words in all. The ESV has one footnote there of nine words. At Psalm 22:16 a single NET note runs about 500 words. It names the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Greek and the Syriac, and it explains why the NET keeps “like a lion.”

At several verses, the NET also tells you where the copies disagree. Psalm 22:16 is one. Deuteronomy 32:8 is another.

But at Isaiah 53:11, something is missing. The NET follows the standard Hebrew text there. Its four notes explain grammar and meaning. They do not mention the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Greek Old Testament, which both read “light.” The NIV and ESV footnotes do mention them. So the NET shows its work, but not always all of it.

One more thing we learned. The first edition of the NET had a shorter note at Psalm 22:16 that left out the Scrolls. The Second Edition, from 2019, added them. The notes are still being improved.

So here is a fair summary. The NET is a fresh translation with unusually deep notes. It is not a better text than its cousins, and it does not tell you everything. That is a good reason to read its notes next to another Bible’s footnotes.

On the tree, this is box 3.