Should the Bible be free for everyone?

I have a question for you today; should the Bible be free for everyone?

The reason for my question? Well, a few months ago I were asked by the Bible Society of South Africa to remove the Afrikaans Bible from my website as it is in breach of their copyright on the Afrikaans Bible. I then asked them if it would be possible to keep it on my site as a form of spreading the Gospel of Jesus and because we are a non-profit with the core function of taking the Word to the people.

They then requested me to apply for it, which I did, but only to find out that I was not approved. They did not state any reason, except that I have 14 days to remove the Bible or any quote thereof from my website or face court action against me for breach of copyright. I must say, I was very shocked in the way they handled this and even more so when I found out that even if you only want to quote a verse from the Bible, you still need their permission to do so and they have the right to refuse it without reason. The same rule applies for Churches and Home Churches that read and quote from the Bible. I responded to them, telling them that I will gladly remove it, even though I do not agree with their actions, but I am a child of the Most High and therefor respect the law.

Dear reader, in my eyes, the Bible belongs to the people that read it and spread the Gospel and why should I have permission to quote verses from it in my work for the Lord. I further feel that the Bible should not have a copyright as it is the word of God given to all mankind for free. I further stated that Jesus said to His disciples, free I give to you and free you must give it to others.

I understand that charging for a Bible when purchasing it, is needed as it costs money to print, create applications online and pay salaries, but why should you charge non profit organizations money to spread the Gospel and why should I have permission from the Bible Society of South Africa to quote from the Bible? In my eyes they are preventing the children of God to do their work.

We distribute thousand of Bibles yearly to poor communities and many lives are changed by it, all to the glory of God. Without Bibles this task would be very difficult. Due to us being unable to get Bibles from societies within South Africa, we had no choice but to make use of other ministries that make use of the English Bible provided from overseas countries (for free). I feel that it is really bad that within a country that has more than 75% Christians, we are blocked by organizations from doing the work the Lord set us out to do and to look overseas for Bibles so that we can provide the poor with the word of God.

What is your view on this?

God bless,
Jaco van As