Updated NIV is now available for viewing online

Rather than doing an extensive review of the updated NIV, because I am entirely incapable of doing so, I am providing a few websites (and a couple of quotes) that may be of benefit to you. The most helpful information at this time, in my humble opinion, is from the translators themselves. I have found two things in particular to be very helpful: 1) the translation notes; and 2) the comprehensive study on the use of gender language in contemporary English.

Following are several sites, including the two above, you may find useful:

• NIV Translation Notes
• The Development and Use of Gender Language in Contemporary English– A Corpus Linguistic Analysis (pdf) (full report)
• Summary of Collins Corpus Report
• Read the updated NIV at BibleGateway
• Updated NIV compared to NIV (1984) and ESV
• The Committee on Bible Translation (CBT)
• Frequently Asked Questions

Following are a couple of selections from the translation notes.

The first, Reasons for changing the text in the new edition fall into three basic categories:

1. Changes in English. For example:

   • Who would have guessed in the 1970s that, within a few decades, an ‟alien” would mean, thanks to the influence of ET and other movies and TV shows, an ‟extraterrestrial being”? In the updated NIV, ‟alien” has been replaced with ‟foreigner” or similar words in order to communicate the intention of God’s Word accurately to contemporary English readers. See, for instance, Genesis 23:4: ‟I am a foreigner and stranger among you . . . ”
   • ‟Ankle chains” refer much more often to prison manacles than to the type of personal adornments described in Isaiah 3:20. The modern fashion of wearing jewelry around the ankle has led to the widespread use of the word ‟anklet” to describe this piece of jewelry, and this is the word used in the updated NIV.
   • In Exodus 4:14 Aaron’s ‟heart will be glad when he sees” Moses, but today we would just render this Semitic idiom as ‟he will be glad to see you” — as the updated NIV does.
   • And how many readers today would use the word ‟overweening” in a sentence, much less be able to define it? Moab’s ‟overweening pride” in Isaiah 16:6 and Jeremiah 48:29 has therefore now become her ‟great . . . arrogance.”

2. Progress in Scholarship. For example:

   • We are more certain than we were forty years ago that the Greek word kataluma used in Luke 2:7 means ‟guest room,” not ‟inn.”
   • We likewise know that those crucified on either side of Jesus (called lēstai) were ‟rebels” rather than ‟robbers” (e.g., Mark 15:27).
   • We now know that the word translated ‟demons” in the original NIV of Psalm 106:37 is more accurately translated ‟false gods.”
   • Joseph’s ‟richly ornamented robe” (Genesis 37:3) suggests a garment with decorations hanging from it, but drawings and descriptions of comparable clothing from antiquity now suggest that ‟ornate” is the best adjective to use.
   • When the NIV was first translated, the meaning of the rare Greek word harpagmos, rendered ‟something to be grasped,” in Philippians 2:6 was uncertain. But further study has shown that the word refers to something that a person has in their possession but chooses not to use to their own advantage. The updated NIV reflects this new information, making clear that Jesus really was equal with God when he determined to become a human for our sake: ‟[Christ Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.”

3. Concern for Clarity. For example:

   • Why retain, ‟when Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother . . . ,” when you can say, ‟when Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban . . .” (Genesis 29:10) — especially when the immediate context goes on to specify which side of Jacob’s family she came from (v. 13)?
   • The 1984 NIV rendition of Leviticus 4:19-20 reads, ‟He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar, and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for them . . .” But this leaves a question hanging in English that is not left hanging in the original — is the priest making atonement for the bulls or for the people? Better to clarify, as in the updated edition: ‟In this way the priest will make atonement for the community.”
   • In place of ‟If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both,” Job 9:33 now reads, ‟If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together.”
   • The Greek relative pronoun in Matthew 1:16b is feminine singular, making it clear that the ‟whom” in the phrase ‟of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ,” refers back only to Mary, not to both Mary and Joseph. Rephrasing this half-verse as, ‟and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah,” makes this crystal clear.
   • The Corinthian slogan in 1 Corinthians 7:1 was captured best in the original NIV footnote, which has now become the text: ‟It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman” (a view Paul had to qualify before he could endorse it).
   • And one shouldn’t be as easily able to misapply Philippians 4:13 now that it reads, ‟I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (i.e., to be content in all circumstances, whether in riches or in poverty), rather than ‟I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

Second, What was decided about Inclusive Language?

Nowhere in the updated NIV (nor in the TNIV, nor in any of the committee discussions leading up to either version) is there even the remotest hint of any inclusive language for God. The revisions solely surround inclusive language for mankind…

The most significant findings (from the study) that influenced decision making for the updated NIV were:

• The gender-neutral pronoun ‟they” (‟them”/‟their”) is by far the most common way that English-language speakers and writers today refer back to singular antecedents such as ‟whoever,” ‟anyone,” ‟somebody,” ‟a person,” ‟no one,” and the like. Even in Evangelical sermons and books, where the generic ‟he,” ‟him” and ‟his” are preserved more frequently than in other forms of communication, instances of what grammarians are increasingly calling the ‟singular they” (‟them” or ‟their”) appear three times more frequently than generic masculine forms. In other words, most English speakers today express themselves in sentences like these: ‟No one who rooted for the Chicago Cubs to be in a World Series in the last sixty years got their wish. They were disappointed time and time again,” or ‟The person who eats too many hot dogs in too short a period of time is likely to become sick to their stomach.” It is interesting to observe that this development is a throwback to a usage of English that existed prior to the solidification of the generic ‟he” as the only ‟proper” usage during the nineteenth century in Victorian England. Even the KJV occasionally used expressions like ‟ . . . let each esteem other better than themselves” (Philippians 2:3). For that matter, so did the Greek New Testament! In James 2:15-16, the Greek for ‟a brother or sister” (adelphos ē adelphē) is followed by plural verbs and predicate adjectives and referred back to with autois (‟them”).
• English speakers around the world are using a variety of terms to refer to men and women together and for the human race collectively. Plural words such as ‟people,” ‟human beings,” and ‟humans” are very widely used. When it comes to terms that focus on humans in a collective sense, ‟man,” ‟mankind,” ‟humanity,” and ‟the human race” are all being used.
• ‟Forefather” has all but disappeared from the English language as a generic term, being replaced by ‟ancestor.” Even in Evangelical sermons and writings, ‟ancestor” is more than twice as common as ‟forefather.”

There is much more information in the translation notes. If you have any interest in the NIV please take the time to read the information available.

I will close this post as The Committee on Bible Translation closed the translation notes:

Hear God’s Word the way it was written and understand it the way it was meant! Take it, read it, listen to it, pray over it, enjoy it and use it to grow in Christian maturity!