While I generally can't speak to the situation in other languages, in English, all of the best and most widely used translations of the Bible are bound by strict copyright that prevents scripture from being freely distributed online, or even in print. The English Standard Version (ESV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), New International Version (NIV), New King James Version (NKJV), and more are all held tightly by publishers such that people that purchase the Bible are unable to redistribute it or reformat it.
This is particularly problematic for software developers who wish to develop Bible software. If you look up a Bible app on your preferred app store, you're likely to find many, and yet the vast majority of them will not have the most well-known translations. The ESV will almost always be missing, for example. This is because the publisher of the ESV has locked down the text of the Bible itself and prevented it from being distributed via means other than the publisher itself.
There are, of course, many reasons why a publisher would do such a thing. Publishers of the Bible have spent an enormous amount of time, money, and other resources on translating the Bible out of its original languages. They generally wish to protect this investment and make it back in the form of sales of the translation. Additionally, publishers may wish to preserve the integrity of the Biblical text so that it is not manipulated in such a way that it could be misinterpreted. Publishers wish to do this to preserve their own reputation, but also to preserve the reputation of the translation itself.
I do not think these are bad reasons; I think they are fine motives. However, I do not think restricting Bible translations by copyrighting them is the right way to go either. Free, open access to the Biblical texts is absolutely crucial because the Bible is the single most important text in all of human history. It is necessary for salvation, and thus every human being on the planet deserves a copy in a language they can understand. Not only that, but every human being must have a copy that they can truly own; that they can share with others in print and otherwise. English speakers are blessed with near-innumerable translations of the Bible that speakers of other languages could only dream of, and for that we should be very thankful. Yet we still have very few truly open Bible translations, Bible translations that we can freely read aloud in church, copy into a journal, or otherwise copy and paste into sermons, books, blog posts, etc. without any restriction. While there are some obscure modern translations that are freely available, the majority of the free translations we have are those whose copyright have expired and are thus in the public domain. The King James Version (KJV) is the most widely known instance of this.
You may or may not have noticed that every English quotation out of the Bible that you can find on my website, be it on my home page or in my blog posts, is quoted out of the KJV. The reason for this is not that I think the KJV is the superior translation, or even that it is a good translation. It's not even the translation I use to do my personal studying. The reason is solely that the KJV is a free translation, unencumbered by copyright. It can be freely distributed, and that's why most Bible software ships a copy of the KJV if nothing else, because it is free to do so without legal consequences. I have intentionally chosen a translation to quote out of that I am legally allowed to do whatever I want with. I want to truly own the text of the Bible, and I can only say that I do with my copy of the KJV. I do not own my ESV or my NIV Bible. They are only licensed to me for personal use up to 500 verses.
The public domain Bible translations aren't inherently flawed in and of themselves—the KJV serviced the English-speaking world for hundreds of years without difficulty—but the KJV is dated and can thus be difficult to understand for modern readers. It is mostly fine for personal study, but in my experience, it doesn't lend itself well to being read aloud at the pulpit or in small groups. It will either be clunky and not smooth, or you will be teased for using such archaic words. In either situation, the translation of the Bible is a hindrance to the studying of it, and is thus problematic. Additionally, Bible scholarship has advanced significantly, along with archaeology. This means that we can read the original texts of the Bible more accurately than the translators of the KJV, so our modern translations render the meaning and wording of the text far more accurately than the KJV.
The problem of English Bible translation copyright is no small reason that I have taken on the task of learning Greek. Eventually I want to learn Hebrew as well. I want to learn the original languages of the Bible not just so I don't have to be stuck with somebody else's interpretation of the Bible, but also because those interpretations are bound by copyright, so I can't actually do as I please with them. I can't write an app that contains the text of the ESV and then distribute it unless I get explicit written permission from the publisher, and that feels unfair. It feels like the text of the Bible is not really mine to share. I briefly mentioned this in my previous blog post, I Am Learning Biblical Greek, where I wrote this:
I don't want to be stuck with English translations of the Bible for the rest of my life. Translations, even "literal" ones, are all interpretations. In recent years, I have become dissatisfied with all of them, which is why I've hopped from translation to translation. Additionally, translations are often bound by copyright, limiting their practical use and preventing me from actually feeling like I can own the Biblical texts. I want to truly understand the Bible without having to go through scholars and have them interpret it for me. I want to understand it for myself, and I don't want my copy of the Bible to be restricted by copyright laws.
I mentioned that there are a few freely available Bible modern translations. There is the Free Bible Version, World English Bible (WEB), and the currently-incomplete Open English Bible. All of these Bibles were specifically created with the goal of being free of copyright, and have dedicated paragraphs on their websites to explaining why copyright of the Biblical texts is bad. These translations are probably adequate, but they are not widely used and their wording is somewhat strange in places. Thus, you're unlikely to find them to be useful in church or in group study, and I would caution against their use in personal study as well, because their origins and methodology for translation are unclear or not precise or as accurate as would be desired. For example, the Open English Bible has this statement on their website:
The OEB is being created by taking existing English language translations which are in the public domain, and conforming them to modern English and suitable public domain Greek and Hebrew source texts.
This concerns me that the OEB is not starting with the original languages, but are instead adapting existing English translations, particularly old—and thus not as accurate—translations. So, while freely available translations do exist, I am not inclined to use them because of their obscurity and lack of scholarly rigor. It is thus logical to me that I should refer to the original source texts of the Bible instead, hence my learning Biblical Greek and hopefully, one day, Hebrew as well.
The question of whether the copyright situation is better or worse when looking at the original languages is answered with a resounding "much better."
Unfortunately, there are plenty of Greek New Testaments that are still bound by copyright, and what some consider to be the best ones are among them. However, editions of the Greek New Testament are not like English translations of the New Testament. While English translations can differ vastly in their reading—thus making your choice more important—the Greek New Testaments differ merely by spelling in some places and a few words here and there. Their differences are so small as to be entirely insignificant, and those differences are explained clearly in the footnotes of scholarly editions. Thus, it really doesn't matter which Greek New Testament you read from, so if you can find a free one that is reputable, you're all set.
Luckily, there is the SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT), which is a freely available Greek New Testament complete with an apparatus. The SBLGNT is available as a free download just like the aforementioned freely available English translations, and its license permits it to be used in any way, so long as it is properly attributed. It is even open source. This means that the text of the Bible can be freely shared with all, either in print or digitally. Anyone can write software around it, publish it on their website, and more. The SBLGNT is extremely accurate, certainly far more so than any English translation, and equally as accurate as the other Greek New Testaments available. The Tyndale House Greek New Testament (THGNT) is still my personal favorite, but again, the differences between Greek editions are basically insignificant. I just happen to like the THGNT print typesetting because it emphasizes a clean, modern-looking Bible that just presents the text for easy reading and little else.
The situation is even better for the Hebrew. As far as I can tell, there really is only one version of the Hebrew Old Testament that anyone uses, and it is the Leningrad Codex. That's it. There aren't any editions like there are with the Greek New Testament, it's just the Leningrad Codex. The Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) is in the public domain and is available digitally, so there's not even a debate at all; if you want to read the Old Testament in its original language either in print or digitally, you do so with the WLC, which is freely available to anyone who wants it.
The only downside to the WLC + SBLGNT combo for most English speakers is, of course, that you also have to know ancient Greek and Hebrew. Speaking from experience, this is no small feat. However, I consider it far better to read the Bible in its original languages than to read it in a translation, even a very good one. Copyright aside, we should always want to prefer the words that were actually breathed out by God himself as opposed to an interpretation into another language, in our case, English.
English translations of the Bible are encumbered by strict copyright that prevents any book from being copied in its entirety or more than 500 consecutive verses, whichever is less. This is extremely problematic for English-speaking Christians that want to share God's word—as Jesus commands! We do have a few freely-available translations, but they are not of the high quality we have come to expect with the likes of the ESV and the NASB. Thus, to truly understand and own the text of the Bible and to feel free by human laws to share it with others, we can do nothing else but refer to the original languages, which are far more accurate and also much more freely available in terms of copying and distribution.
God commands us to obey all human laws and be subject to all human institutions when they do not directly interfere with His law, and though one could make the case that the copyright that binds English translations of His word would be such an interference, the case would be a weak one. Therefore, I cannot condone pirating English translations of the Bible. As much as I may not like it, it is a simple fact that the best English translations are mostly out of reach due to their strict copyright laws, and I must honor those laws. It would be more sinful to pirate the ESV and break copyright laws than it would be to simply use an open translation, or, even better than the ESV anyway, use the original languages.
I have many times considered writing my own Bible software, with the hopes of one day distributing it. I have a very specific vision of an extremely minimal Bible reader for desktop computers that I have yet to see realized in any currently-available software. As I have pondered how my own software would look, I have come to the realization that I simply cannot in good conscience distribute any English translations of the Bible unless it is the KJV or perhaps the WEB, but these feel inferior and less than ideal than the far-superior ESV or NASB. Thus, I can only present the Bible as it was originally intended by God to be presented, and that is in Hebrew and Greek. Thankfully, the WLC and SBLGNT faithfully provide the Bible in a way that can be freely distributed without consequence.
My sincere hope is that one day I will be able to fluently read the Bible in its original languages. Not only will that allow me to have a much more rich understanding of the Bible, but it will allow me to freely distribute the Bible to all who are in need of it. I will be able to freely quote the Bible on my website and in any other future writings I may do without having to use an archaic translation. I will be able to copy and memorize the Bible however I want for my own personal study. I would be able to write that Bible software I've been thinking about and offer it for a free download. In other words, the text of the Bible will truly be mine to study, memorize, and most importantly, share. It will be more accurate in my mind and my heart, and therefore hopefully more accurate in my speech as well.