In the late 1970s, Herman ter Welle, director of Evangelical Center "In de Ruimte" in Soest, Norway, met Bible teacher Thoralf Gilbrant. The latter showed him a 5-volume series on the Bible that had been published by them and whose production was also in preparation in the United States under the name "Complete Biblical Library." Ter Welle is impressed by the concept, but back in the Netherlands he comes to the conclusion that the Norwegian set-up is far too brief for the Dutch audience, which theologically demands more quality.

Collaborating on the Study Bible

He approaches New Testament scholar Drs. Gijs van den Brink and classicist Drs. Henk Courtz to work out the concept for the Dutch context. They work from 1980 on the production of the first volume of Matthew. That same year Rev. J.C. Bette is approached to lead the project as editor-manager. Starting in 1986, an average of one volume per year is published in the New Testament series (SBNT).

Center for Bible Research

In 1998, "In de Ruimte" and all its sections (including the Study Bible) went into bankruptcy, but in 1999 the publication of the Study Bible series was continued by the "Center for Bible Research" foundation established for this purpose by J.C. Bette and G. van den Brink. From this center the last four volumes of the New Testament are published between 1999 and 2003.

CD-ROM

In 2005, the digital edition on CD-Rom of the 17-volume series on the New Testament was published, and in 2009 this digital edition was published as an Internet version.

Old Testament

In 2003 the twelve-volume edition of the Old Testament (SBOT) will be started. The Old Testament scholar Dr. Mart-Jan Paul was engaged for this purpose. Due to the size of the Old Testament, it was decided to change the format slightly so that the series would not become too large. The first volume (Genesis - Exodus) appeared in 2004.

Spanish version Study Bible

In 2008, the mega-translation job into Spanish will begin.

Books completed in 2015

In 2015, the entire 29-volume book series was completed. Supplements and revisions have since appeared only digitally in the Study Bible application.

Spanish Bible app

By 2016, all commentaries and articles of the NT had been translated into Spanish and the Spanish BibliaDeEstudio app went live.

New application

In March 2018, the BoE launched an all-new application of the Study Bible . It is available for download for tablets and smartphones in addition to online. Many new features have also been added in this latest version.

Starting in 2018, the Study Bible online and Study Bible app will continue to be expanded monthly with new features, new content and technical improvements. Want to know what changes have been made? Then check out the page releasenotes.