New revision of NIV Bible to be completed in 2010

Sep 1, 2009 / 23:22 pm

The Committee on Bible Translation, the body of biblical scholars responsible for the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, has announced that it will finish its latest revision of the NIV late in 2010 and will publish it the following year.

The announcement of the committee’s work was made at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, where the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) first met in 1965.

A press release from Biblica described the CBT as an independent body representative of “the very best in evangelical biblical scholarship.”

Biblica, formerly known as International Bible Society-Send the Light (IBS-STL), is a Protestant group that dates back to 1809.

Keith Danby, Global President and CEO of Biblica, said the new translation will aim to reach English speakers with a Bible that is “accurate, accessible and that speaks to its readers in a language they can understand.”

“This is why we are recommitting ourselves today to the original NIV charter, complete with its charge to monitor and reflect developments in English usage and Biblical scholarship by regularly updating the NIV Bible text.”

He said the present NIV is becoming “increasingly dated.”

“If we want a Bible that English speakers around the world can understand, we have to listen to, and respect, the vocabulary they are using today," Danby continued.

CBT Chairman, Prof. Douglas Moo, said the committee’s purpose is to ensure that the NIV articulates “the words of God, as we find them recorded in the original languages,” in language that is comprehensible to the “broadest possible audience.”

Noting that the New Testament was written in Koine or “common” Greek, he described the CBT’s task as the creation of a translation in “Koine” English.

Moo claimed that the CBT’s goal is similar to the authors of the King James Version: “to produce a Bible that removes all unnecessary obstacles to comprehension by drawing on the best available scholarship.”

He named accuracy and clarity as goals of the CBT translation, as well as suitability both for in-depth study and for outreach.

Moo also noted that the CBT is open to input from qualified biblical scholars, linguists and English stylists. Further, feedback from NIV Bible readers themselves is welcome.

Previous editions of the CBT’s work include the 1978 and 1984 editions of the NIV and the 2005 “Today’s New International Version.”

Zondervan, the North American publisher of the NIV Bible, will begin producing print and digital versions of the updated NIV Bible when the CBT has completed its translation.

The new NIV Bible’s website is at http://www.NIVBible2011.com