Now they’ve done it! They changed my favorite verse, my life verse. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work (2 Co. 9:8 1984 NIV) becomes “And God is able to bless you abundantly …. (2011 NIV). At first I felt the gut reaction of reading a new translation. It is different. I resist change to that to which I have become accustomed and especially hold dear. But then I thought about the new version. It’s so accessible to the uninitiated, so immediately plain; it requires no accompanying explanation of the varied meanings of the word grace in the NT in order to understand it. I could not help but be impressed that for many readers, probably for most readers, the new version was more understandable, more in today’s language. That is really the point of this new translation in a nutshell. And I could not help but approve, in spite of myself.
I have been working on a comparison of the 1984 NIV with the 2011 NIV for some time. I have now been using the 2011 NIV for my sermon text at church for more than a year. I like it very much and find it to be in keeping with the reformation principle that the Bible needs to be in the language of the people.
10 Observations
- First of all, reading this translation is so easy! One morning, I easily read Galatians through in morning devotions.
- Second, I am much impressed with the gender sensitivity that has been used to respond to the fact that modern English usage of gender pronouns has changed. It has resulted in a translation that is gender friendly yet does not sacrifice the patriarchal nature of OT culture or impinge upon the ubiquitous divinely chosen metaphor of the Fatherhood of God.
- The 2011 version will be more easily understood by new Bible readers. I think the translators of this version have tried to keep them in mind as they worked.
- Perhaps more than any other version I have read, there is excellent feeling for the overall outline of passages rather than just verse by verse translation (Example 2 Cor. 9).
- Often the 2011 has moved a little more away from the tradition of translation into English and toward increased accuracy. A relatively trivial but noticeable example is the dropping of the traditional “O” in front of “LORD” in translating in the Psalms (Example Ps. 8:1).
- The exceptions to the move toward tight accuracy are when the 2011 includes more explanatory phrases to help newer readers (Example Rom. 15:4).
- The new version tries to translate more for the immediate context with less intent of creating general quotable wise sayings as previous versions have done (unfortunate example Ps. 19:14).
- Subtitles make it much easier to skim for pericopes and follow the thought outline of the passage. John 17 is a good example.
- Female leaders in the NT church get better treatment in the 2011 version. In Rom. 16:1, Pheobe is called a deacon – using the usual translation of the Greek word. In Rom. 16:7, Andronicus’ companion is called Junia, rather than Junias (The Greek form can be either m. or f.). 1 Tim 3:11 refers in the 2011 version to the “women” rather than the “wives” (1984) leaving open the possibility in English that is open in the Greek that the reference may be to women leaders—to deaconesses as well as other leading women.
- The treatment of Mark 16:9-20 and John 7:53-8:11 seems problematic for contemporary translations. In the 2011 NIV, the language of the notes setting apart Mark 16:9-20 and John 7:53-8:11 has been softened and in the case of John 8:1-11 also balanced. This is an improvement over the 1984 version, but I would have liked to have seen the notes moved to the footnotes. In my red letter version, the publisher made things worse by not putting the words of Jesus in red in these passages. They should be!
15 Representative Side by Side Notes of Interesting Translation changes |
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| 1984 NIV | 2011 NIV |
| Sons of men | Mankind |
| John | John the Baptist – less confusing for new readers |
| Grave (footnote –Sheol) | Realm of the dead |
| Rude in 1 Cor 13:5 | Dishonor others |
| Saints (69 verses) | “God’s holy people” or “God’s people” in the ones I checked. Ex. Rev. 13:7, 10; Eph. 1:1 |
| 2 Cor. 9:9 The 1984 version uses “He” and I read that as about God rather than about the righteous man, probably because I had not checked with the Psalm. | 2 Cor. 9:9, the quote from Psalm 112:9 uses the plural “they” as a part of the gender sensitivity. This actually helped me to understand the verse correctly for the first time as referring to generous persons. |
| Luke 2:11 “He is Christ, the Lord.” | Luke 2:11 “He is the Messiah, the Lord.” Here and many other places in the Gospels, 2011 NIV uses Messiah rather than Christ because it is a more contextually correct translation. |
| 1 Pe 1:13 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled.” | 1 Pe 1:13 “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober.” Return of the translation “sober” for the Greek ‘neefontes’ is welcome. “Alert” of 1984 version did not sufficiently convey the idea of not drinking alcohol. |
| 1984 says Ro 15:4 “…so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” | Example of more explanatory translations in the 2011 version. Rom. 15:4 “…so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” 2011 |
| 1 Cor. 2:9, 10 The 1984 version kept the tradition to the detriment of the author’s intent. | Best translation I have read of 1 Cor. 2:9,10. It keeps it flowing toward the point that God has revealed new things in the NT era. It prevents the common quoting that actually misuses the author’s intent – “Eye has not seen…” |
| 1 Corinthians – I have known for some time that this book is somewhat of a dialogue between the info Paul had received and his replies. This is not obvious in traditional versions | Reading 1 Corinthians in the 2011 version is enlightening. The new version uses quotes to mark the places that are very likely the info received/the opinions being relayed to him that he is reacting to. This makes the dialogue come alive and very clear. Examples: 7:1, 8:4, 10:23 |
| Ps. 12:6 The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay,purified seven times. | Use of a probable reading seems more likely in the OT. Example. Ps 12:6 The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible,like gold refined seven times. |
| Psalm 15:1 – sanctuary | Psalm 15:1 “sacred tent” may be technically a better translation of the Hebrew but sanctuary seems to communicate better. |
| Gal. 3:22 “is a prisoner” | Gal 3:22 “locked up” This metaphor had me asking questions. Following up with the metaphor of custody and guardian helped me see Paul’s thought more clearly. |
| Gal. 5:22 patience | forbearance |
In case there are any copyright sticklers out there, here for once on my blog is the overlong technical ascription for the 2011 NIV which I’m sure only printers will use. May it apply to all verses I ever quote from it. (Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved.) For a while, I intend to continue to differentiate NIV’s quoted simply by noting their publishing date.
