New Internation Version -NIV- BEST Bible Translation?

More than 100 scholars from six English-speaking countries, as well as editors and English stylists, worked on the NIV. The scholars represented more than 20 denominations.

In the 17th century, King James translators worked from the Erasmus Greek text of the New Testament. Erasmus had six Greek manuscripts from which to work. NIV translators work from more than 5,000 complete or partial manuscripts and papyri.

It took 10 years to complete the NIV translation. The process started in 1968 and finished in 1978. This does not include more than 10 years of planning before 1968.

The system for editing each book is one of the distinctive features of the NIV. The procedure was as follows:

* Initial Translation Team
* Intermediate Editorial Committee
* General Editorial Committee
* Stylist and Critics
* Executive Committee (or Committee on Bible Translation)
* Final Stylistic Review
* Executive Committee's Final Reading

The NIV was created and is maintained with the mandate to accurately and faithfully translate the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic biblical texts into clearly understandable English.

The NIV is the most widely accepted contemporary Bible translation today. More people today buy the NIV Bible than any other English-language translation.

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Bible :: New International Version :: Official Site

Click on the Scripture below to see the verse from Gospel of John in the NIV.

JOHN
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A Closer Look At The NIV

 The record of the NIV had its start with an 'Interdenominational Bible Translation Conference' 1965 at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois. Already exploratory studies on the need for a new English version had been done by committees from the Christian Reformed Church and the National Association of Evangelicals. The scholars attending agreed on the need and a Committee On Bible Translation was appointed. This group consisted of 15 scholars from different denominations.  and was entrusted with setting up the entire mission.

 In 1967 the New York International Bible Society agreed to sponsor and finance the work.  They enlisted help of over100 scholars from around the English-speaking world; all of whom were reputed to be conservative and to hold to an elevated view of Scripture. The 'Preface' to the NIV New Testament stated: 'Certain conviction and aims have guided the translators. They are all committed to the full authority and complete trustworthiness of the Scriptures, which they believe to be God's Word in written form.'

The financial backing also made it achievable to hire a full-time executive secretary. Dr. Edwin Palmer, then pastor of the Grandville Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was chosen to serve in this position.
The printing of the new translation was entrusted to Zondervan Publishing. Who has sole rights to the printing of the NIV. There are many different editions of the NIV. Every one of them is printed by Zondervan. Given the popularity of the NIV, Zondervan has tapped into a true gold mine. The New Testament was released in September of 1973, with the name changed from the earlier projected name of A Contemporary Translation to the New International Version. In the meantime, work on the Old Testament continued. Isaiah was issued in 1975; Daniel in 1976; Proverbs and Ecclesiastes in 1977. The completed Bible was finally published in October of 1978. The total cost of the project is estimated to have been approximately two and a half million dollars.
From the beginning, the NIV was met with great fervor and passion.

TRANSLATION FEATURES OF THE NIV

The NIV New Testament purports to be based on an older and better text than the text that was the basis for the translation of the KJV. The 'Preface' of the NIV begins: 'The New International Version is a completely new translation of the Holy Bible made ... directly from the best available Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts.'

A noteworthy feature of the NIV is the fundamental principle employed by the translators in their work: the principle of 'dynamic equivalence.'

 (For more reading see my blog:   differing principles of translations  - FIVE QUESTIONS TO ASK IN CHOOSING THAT BEST BIBLE .

 

According to this premise of translating, the work of the translator is not so much to render the very words of Scripture in its original form into the 'receptor' language, but to discover the 'meaning' of the words, and then to convey that meaning to the reader..
That this principle was followed by the NIV translators, they make clear in their 'Preface.' 'The first concern of the translators has been the accuracy of the translation and its fidelity to the thought (notice that, not 'words' but 'thought') of the biblical writers' .

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For more information read the more critical article on the KJV vs. NIV - Which Bible? by Ronald Cammenga