New International Version

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest and highest quality source manuscripts available, into broadly understood modern English.

A team of 15 biblical scholars, representing a variety of evangelical denominations, worked from the oldest copies of reliable texts, variously written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Each section was subjected to multiple translations and revisions, and those assessed in detail to produce the best option. Everyday Bible readers were used to provide feedback on ease of understanding and comprehensibility. Finally, plans were made to continue revision of the Bible as new discoveries were made and as changes in the use of the English language occurred.

The ''NIV'' is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The ''NIV'' was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become the best-selling modern translation.

History

Beginnings

In 1955, businessman Howard Long was convinced of the need for a contemporary English translation of the Bible while sharing the gospel with a business associate. He was unhappy with the King James Version that he used to communicate the gospel and was frustrated with its archaic language. He thought, “Everywhere I go, in Canada, the U.S., anywhere, there are people who would like to read their Bible to their children at night. And they don’t have something the children can grasp.” He shared the frustration with his pastor Reverend Peter DeJong. Inspired by the great need for bible in contemporary English, the two men petitioned their denomination, Christian Reformed Church (CRC). After initial rejection and deferral, the CRC endorsed a committee to investigate the issue in 1957.

The ''NIV'' began with the formation of a small committee to study the value of producing a translation in the common language of the American people and a project of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1957.Alec Gilmore, ''A Concise Dictionary of Bible Origins and Interpretation'', Bloomsbury Publishing, UK, 2006, p. 136 In 1964, a joint committee of representatives from the Christian Reformed Church and National Association of Evangelicals issued invitations to a translation conference and that conference met in August 1965 at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois. Two key decisions were made, the first was that “a contemporary English translation of the Bible should be undertaken as a collegiate endeavor of evangelical scholars.” The second was that a “continuing committee of fifteen” should be established to move the work forward. The “committee of fifteen” was ultimately named the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) while the “Contemporary English Translation” became the NIV.

In 1967, the New York Bible Society (now called Biblica) took responsibility for the project and hired a team of 15 scholars from various Evangelical Christian denominations and from various countries. The initial "Committee on Bible Translation" consisted of Leslie Carlson, Edmund Clowney, Ralph Earle, Jr., Burton L. Goddard, R. Laird Harris, Earl S. Kalland, Kenneth Kantzer, Robert H. Mounce, Charles F. Pfeiffer, Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Francis R. Steele, John H. Stek, J. C. Wenger, Stephen W. Paine, and Marten Woudstra. The New Testament was released in 1973 and the full Bible in 1978. A UK version was also released, to accommodate differences between American English and British English.

The ''NIV'' underwent a minor revision in 1984.

Inclusive language editions

In 1995 a new version of the New Testament and Psalms was published in the UK, with the full Bible following in 1996 as the ''New International Version Inclusive Language Edition'', but was not published in the U.S. because of opposition from conservative evangelical groups there to gender-neutral language. A further edition with minor edits was published in 1999.

A revised English edition titled '' Today's New International Version'' (''TNIV''), again using gender-neutral language, was released as a New Testament in March 2002, the complete Bible being published in February 2005.

2011 update

In 2011, an updated version of the ''NIV'' was released, with both the 1984 version and the ''TNIV'' being discontinued.

The update modified and dropped some of the gender-neutral language compared to ''TNIV''. This includes going back to using "mankind" and "man" rather than "human beings" and "people", along with other changes. Keith Danby—president and chief executive officer of Biblica, speaking of the TNIV—said they had failed to convince people revisions were needed and underestimated readers' loyalty to the 1984 edition.

Derivative versions

Plain English version (NIrV)

An 'easy-reader' version, '' New International Reader's Version'' (NIrV), was published in 1996; it was written at a third grade reading level.

Spanish version (NVI)

In 1979, the decision was made to produce a version of the New Testament in Spanish with the title ''La Santa Biblia, Nueva Versión Internacional'' (often abbreviated ''NVI''), though at this point this version was based only on the former English translation of the historic manuscripts. In 1990, the committee on Bible translation headed by Drs. René Padilla and Luciano Jaramillo conducted a translation of both testaments from the historic manuscripts directly into Spanish, bypassing English altogether and producing a complete Spanish NVI Bible in 1999.

Portuguese version (NVI)

In 2001, the ''Nova Versão Internacional'' in Portuguese was published.

Textual basis

The manuscript base for the Old Testament was the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Masoretic Hebrew Text. Other ancient texts consulted were the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta, the Aramaic Targum, and for the Psalms the Juxta Hebraica of Jerome. The manuscript base for the New Testament was the Koine Greek language editions of the United Bible Societies and of Nestle-Aland. The deuterocanonical books are not included in the translation.

Translation methodology

The core translation group consisted of fifteen Biblical scholars using Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts whose goal was to produce a more modern English language text than the King James Version. The translation took ten years and involved a team of over 100 scholars from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The range of those participating included many different denominations such as Anglicans, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Christian Reformed, Lutheran and Presbyterian.

The ''NIV'' is a balance between word-for-word and thought-for-thought or literal and phrase-by-phrase translations.

Recent archaeological and linguistic discoveries helped in understanding passages that have traditionally been difficult to translate. Familiar spellings of traditional translations were generally retained.

Reception

According to the Association for Christian Retail (CBA), the New International Version has become the most popular selling English translation of the Bible in CBA bookstores, having sold more than 450 million copies worldwide.

There are numerous study Bibles available with extensive notes on the text and background information to make the Biblical stories more comprehensible. Among these are the ''NIV Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible'', ''Concordia Study Bible'', the Zondervan published ''NIV Study Bible'', the Wesleyan revision, '' Reflecting God Study Bible'', as well as the '' Life Application Study Bible''.

In 2009, the New Testament scholar N. T. Wright wrote that the ''NIV'' obscured what Paul the Apostle was saying, making sure that Paul's words conformed to Protestant and Evangelical tradition. He claims, "if a church only, or mainly, relies on the ''NIV'' it will, quite simply, never understand what Paul was talking about," especially in Galatians and Romans."In this context, I must register one strong protest against one particular translation. When the New International Version was published in 1980, I was one of those who hailed it with delight. I believed its own claim about itself, that it was determined to translate exactly what was there, and inject no extra paraphrasing or interpretative glosses. This contrasted so strongly with the then popular New English Bible, and promised such an advance over the then rather dated Revised Standard Version, that I recommended it to students and members of the congregation I was then serving. Disillusionment set in over the next two years, as I lectured verse by verse through several of Paul's letters, not least Galatians and Romans. Again and again, with the Greek text in front of me and the ''NIV'' beside it, I discovered that the translators had another principle, considerably higher than the stated one: to make sure that Paul should say what the broadly Protestant and evangelical tradition said he said. I do not know what version of scripture they use at Dr Piper's church. But I do know that if a church only, or mainly, relies on the ''NIV'' it will, quite simply, never understand what Paul was talking about." In support of this claim, Wright mentions specifically several verses of Romans 3, which he suggests do not convey how "righteousness" refers to the covenant faithfulness of God or reflect his own thinking about the ''pistis Christou'' debate. All editions of the ''NIV'' have given "God's Faithfulness" as the heading for Romans 3:1–8. Wright's specific objections concerning verses later in the chapter no longer apply to the 2011 revision of the NIV, which moreover offers "the faithfulness of Jesus Christ" as an alternative translation to "faith in Jesus Christ" in Romans 3:22.

Mark Given, a professor of religious studies at Missouri State University, criticized the ''NIV'' for "several inaccurate and misleading translations" as many sentences and clauses are paraphrased, rather than translated from Hebrew and Greek.

Michael Marlowe, a scholar in biblical languages, criticized as "indefensible" the footnote provided in the ''NIV'' for , which replaced multiple instances of "head covering" with "long hair" in order to "harmonize this passage with modern habits of dress". Church historian David Bercot, whose focus is early Christianity, likewise deemed the footnote a "fanciful interpretation" that "is in no way an alternate translation of the Greek text."

Others have also criticized the ''NIV''. In Genesis 2:19 a translation such as the New Revised Standard Version

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