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its few words well, the translation accords with this purpose.
New Testament Greek was koine Greek as TEV is koine English.
[Koine means “common,” not the classical Greek].
To this end, the translators took advantage of word-frequency
lists, such as that used by the United States Information
Agency in its program for editing books into Easy
English. Technical terms for the biblical institutions were
maintained, such as, unleavened bread, Pentecost, Tabernacles,
etc., but “council” was used for “Sanhedrin,” and “teachers
of the Law” for “scribes.” In addition, there is a word list
in the back of the TEV with definitions of unfamiliar words,
e.g., “Abib,” “Abyss,” “Acacia,” etc.
Acceptance. As people are becoming more aware of the
value of dynamic translation, the TEV is becoming more acceptable.
J.B. Phillips, the translator of the Phillips New Testament,
favorably describes the translation of New Testament as
“ordinary workaday English. If the style is rather of the ‘plain
Jane’ variety, well so long as Jane does her work and speaks
the truth, what’s wrong with her?” Catholics have been encouraged
to use an approved (i.e., with an imprimatur) edition
of the TEV that includes the deuterocanonical/apocrypha.
The sales of the TEV are extremely numerous, usually
sold at prices subsidized by the United Bible Society and the
American Bible Society. In total, the United Bible Societies in
1981 distributed some 500,000,000 Bibles or parts of Bibles
throughout the world.
New International Version [= NIV] (1978). History. The NIV
is the Evangelical Christians’ answer to their dissatisfaction
with the RSV. The 1954 Evangelical Synod advised its consistories
that in a number of passages the RSV did not do justice
to the unity of Scriptures, the deity of Christ, and messianic
prophecy. Therefore, the RSV was unapproved for public worship.
After much labor and expense, Zondervan published
the NIV New Testament (1973) and completed the Old Testament
(1978).
The New International Version was to be an international
version – avoiding Britishisms and Americanisms – a language
that all understand and no one speaks. The work was sponsored
by the New York International Bible Society and done by
scholars of 34 different religious groups, working in 20 teams.
This was the largest committee ever to work on a translation.
The actual work of translation took some 11 years.
Thirteen denominations were represented; 87 of the 97
scholars were Americans; and seven were from Trinity Evangelical
Divinity School in Illinois. The whole project took 25
years, 200,000 hours of work, and $2,000,000. It is estimated
that 170 man-hours were invested in translating each chapter
of the Bible.
To control the total 115 scholars involved an elaborate system
of committees was formed: (1) the first draft to be done
by two co-translators, two consultants, and an English stylist;
(2) an Intermediate Editorial Committee composed of five
scholars concerned mainly with exegetical matters; (3) General
editorial committees, which included seven scholars to
attend to the theology and style; and finally (4) a committee
of 15 members, who had the final authority.
Principles and Representative Examples. The principles
of the translation are, namely, that the NIV is (1) to be
faithful to the original; (2) not to be a paraphrase; (3) to be
in the language of the people; (4) to be for both public worship
and private study; (5) to be translated by scholars who
have a high view of Scripture; (6) and to reflect the unity and
harmony of Scripture. “The Bible alone, in its entirety, is the
Word of God and is therefore inerrant in the autographs.” In
effect this means that if a translation is to be reliable, the Old
Testament must agree exactly with the New Testament. All efforts
are made to “harmonize” the texts of the Old and New
Testaments.
There are many translations that reflect the theological
interest of the NIV. Is. 7:14: “The virgin will be with child and
will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” This harmonizes
with Matt. 1:23. Not even a footnote mentions that the
term “virgin” might be rendered “a young woman.”
Psalm 2 is a parade example of harmonization. Ps. 2:9
rejects the Hebrew MT “you shall break” in favor of the LXX,
Vulgate “you shall shepherd,” because of the New Testament
quotations in Revelations 12:5 and 19:15. At Ps. 2:12 NIV has
“kiss the Son” with a marginal note: “son.” (RSV has “kiss his
feet”; TEV “bow down to him”; NEB “kiss the king.”) Through
the use of capital letters, Psalm 2 becomes thoroughly messianic:
“Anointed One,” “King,” and “Son,” and “Father.”
Without comment in the footnotes, the order of creation
in Gen. 2 is made to harmonize with Gen. 1 by translating
2:8 and 19 as past perfects: “had planted” and “had formed.”
Thereby, Adam is not made first in the second account, thus
agreeing with Gen. 1.
Another translation avoids a misunderstanding of Jonah
3:3 (RSV), “Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three
days’ journey in breadth.” Such hyperbole is rendered, “Now
Nineveh was a very important city – a visit required three
days.” In Gen. 3:5: polytheism of the KJV is avoided in “you
shall be like God,” instead of “as Gods” (KJV). In Job 1:6, “Satan”
is so rendered despite the definite article that indicates
the meaning as “the adversary” or “the accuser.”
Theological problems are often relegated to footnotes:
Gen. 18:22, “Abraham remained standing before the Lord”
instead of the “Lord remained standing before Abraham,”
which is noted in the footnote. In Job 32:3: “they condemned
him (= Job)” with the footnote reading: “condemned God.”
NIV, at Hos. 4:7, does not follow the tikkun [= a Masoretic correction].
“I will exchange.” Instead, NIV has “they exchanged
their Glory.”
Wide scholarship is evident in the NIV. Isa 15:1 translates
the Heb. ki as an asseverative (i.e., emphatically) from
the understanding of an Ugaritic particle. At Gen. 47:21, NIV
follows the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint (and Vulgate)
in correcting the Hebrew: “Joseph reduced the people
to servitude.”
620 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3