Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997. The World English Bible project was started to produce a modern English Bible version that is not copyrighted, doesn't use archaic English (such as the KJV), or isn't translated in Basic English (such as the Bible In Basic English)
As of this writing, the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs are done. The rest of the Old Testament is being translated.
Rainbow Missions is the sponsor of the World English Bible project.