Currently, there exists many different translations and versions of the Bible. While the content of the Bible can not be copyrighted, a specific translation/version can be. Biblegateway.com, a popular website for viewing passages of scripture in various versions, has this statement on copyrights:
"Many modern Bible translations are copyrighted, and thus place restrictions on the extent to which you can quote or reprint passages from them. Publishers retain rights to their translations because producing a Bible translation is an enormously extensive (and expensive) project. A single translation can represent years of work by hundreds of scholars, theologians, and editors, all of whom need to be reimbursed for their work. By retaining their copyright to the translation and asking you to respect that copyright, publishers are able to pay their translators and ensure continued translation work.
This means that downloading or distributing the entire text of a copyrighted Bible translation is not permitted. Fortunately, most publishers do allow you to quote passages from their translations within a reasonable limit. You can find general copyright information at the bottom of all the passage pages. For specific information on individual versions, please contact the publisher directly.
If you are looking for a Bible without any copyright restrictions at all, you do have several options. Some older Bible translations are in the public domain and may be freely reprinted, quoted, and copied without any restrictions at all; the King James Version is the most well-known of these. And if you have the skills and dedication, there is nothing stopping you from creating your own Bible translation--there are online projects dedicated to doing just that!
To sum up, Bible versions are copyrighted to make sure that translators are fairly reimbursed for their hard work. Most copyrighted Bible versions have relatively lenient quoting rules that should cover most common situations. But if for whatever reason the copyright rules prevent you from using the Bible as you like, you're free to use a non-copyrighted Bible version."
Personally, I couldn't have explained the copyright issues with the Bible any better than that. Just like we have discussed is class, copyrights are designed to make sure publishers of and contributors to a given work are compensated and legally protected for their hard work. The same is true for different translations of the Bible. Studylight.org provides links to the copyright pages of different versions of the bible. You can find the complete lists here. Below is an image of the copyright page from my personal Bible (confession, I've never looked at it before this).
It is interesting to see that "quotations are limited to 500 verses or 25 percent of the work." It also stipulates that all quotes must be proceeded by "(NLT)" at the end of the quote so that the version is properly credited. Good thing I do that whenever I've used quoted scripture. Obviously, copyrights on the Bible is a somewhat controversial issue (just like the rest of the copyright law), but I honestly don't have an issue with these stipulations. Being able to use up to 500 verses is very generous and I can't think of a great reason one would need to reprint a that large a section of the Bible. Feel free to voice your thoughts/opinions on this issue in the comments.
Sources:
https://support.biblegateway.com/entries/187525-Why-are-modern-Bible-translations-copyrighted-Life Application Study Bible. New Living Translation. Tyndale.
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