The New International Version, almost always called the NIV, is the best-selling and most widely read modern English Bible. Since its first complete publication in 1978 it has become, for tens of millions of readers, simply “the Bible they grew up with” — the version handed out in pews, given at confirmations and baptisms, and stocked first by Christian bookshops around the world.

Origins

The project began in the 1960s with a small group of evangelical pastors and scholars in the United States and Canada who felt the older English Bibles no longer spoke clearly to ordinary readers. The King James Version was four centuries old; the Revised Standard Version, the most successful modern attempt at the time, had been received warmly by mainline Protestants but suspiciously by evangelicals. A new Bible was wanted — one prepared by evangelicals, for evangelicals, in the English of the second half of the twentieth century.

The work was sponsored by the New York Bible Society, later the International Bible Society and now Biblica, and placed under the oversight of a self-perpetuating body of scholars known as the Committee on Bible Translation. The committee was deliberately international and trans-denominational, drawing translators from Baptist, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Christian Reformed, and other evangelical traditions across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. More than a hundred scholars contributed in all; no single denomination or institution controlled the work.

The New Testament was published in 1973 to immediate strong reception. The complete Bible followed in 1978. A first revision appeared in 1984 (the version many older readers still associate with the NIV), and a more thorough revision — the version that most copies in print today carry — was released in 2011.

Translation philosophy

The NIV is sometimes described as balanced, mediating, or in the translators’ own preferred language, optimal equivalence. Its translators set out neither to render the Hebrew and Greek word-for-word, as the more formal versions do, nor to paraphrase freely, but to convey the meaning of each sentence in the most natural English they could find. Where a literal rendering would obscure the sense, they preferred a clear English equivalent; where the original was vivid or distinctive, they kept its colour.

The textual base is mainstream critical scholarship. For the Old Testament, the committee works from the Masoretic Hebrew with reference to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, and other ancient witnesses. For the New Testament, the base is the Nestle-Aland / United Bible Societies Greek text, the consensus modern critical edition. Footnotes acknowledge significant alternative readings.

The committee continues to meet annually and revises the text in light of fresh research, of changes in English usage, and of feedback from readers and reviewers. This makes the NIV a living translation in a way that the King James and other older Bibles are not — for better or worse, depending on the reader’s preference.

A sample passage

The NIV’s natural-English aim shows clearly in a familiar passage. Here is the opening of John’s gospel:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

Compare the King James — “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” — to see how lightly the NIV reshapes the sentence for modern ears: a normal English subject-verb-object order, the word “all” added for clarity, the inclusive “mankind” where the Greek anthrōpōn can mean either men specifically or human beings generally. None of this is paraphrase; it is the literal sense, told with the cadence of contemporary English.

The 2011 revision and the gender-language question

For its first generation the NIV faced relatively little controversy. It sold steadily, became the dominant English Bible in evangelical homes and churches through the 1980s and 1990s, and earned a reputation as a trustworthy, clear, and middle-of-the-road translation.

The trouble came over gender language. In 1996 the Committee on Bible Translation prepared a revision intended to address inclusive-language questions — using “people” or “brothers and sisters” where the Hebrew or Greek refers to human beings of either sex. After a long campaign of opposition, particularly from American conservative leaders, the revision was withdrawn. A modified version appeared in 2002 as the Today’s New International Version (TNIV), and again drew strong evangelical criticism.

The committee took the criticism seriously, considered the linguistic evidence again, and in 2011 issued the current NIV — a unified revision that incorporates much of the TNIV’s research with adjustments to address the concerns raised. The 2011 NIV continues to use masculine language for God and for individuals identified as male, but renders generic Greek and Hebrew forms with inclusive English where that is what the original means. Both the 1984 and 2011 editions remain in print, and many older readers still prefer the 1984 wording. The 2011 NIV is the edition Biblica licences for new printings and digital editions.

Influence and reach

The NIV has been the best-selling English Bible since the mid-1980s, with cumulative sales conservatively estimated at over 450 million copies worldwide. It dominates the study-Bible market — the NIV Study Bible and the Life Application Bible were both originally built around the NIV — and it is the default text of countless devotionals, children’s Bibles, audio Bibles, and Bible apps.

Its reach beyond the English-speaking world is significant too. Translation philosophies and even particular wordings from the NIV have influenced English-language editions of children’s Bibles in dozens of languages, and Biblica continues to support translation work into hundreds of others.

Who reads the NIV

The NIV has several distinct readerships:

  • Evangelical churches. The NIV remains the pew Bible in many Baptist, Evangelical Free, Pentecostal, and non-denominational congregations. It is the translation most often heard from pulpits in mainstream American evangelicalism.
  • Families and young readers. Many homes choose the NIV for its clarity. It is the most common first Bible for children moving up from picture-book Bibles to a full English text.
  • Bible study groups. Many small-group curricula are built around the NIV because its English is unlikely to confuse anyone and group members from different backgrounds can read along together.
  • Cross-cultural mission and English-as-a-second-language settings. The NIV’s contemporary register makes it accessible to readers whose English is functional but not native.

How the NIV compares

The NIV sits in the middle of the major modern English translations and can be usefully compared with each of them:

  • The English Standard Version (2001) is more formal — closer to the Hebrew and Greek word for word, often less natural in English. Readers who want to do verse-by-verse study or who are loyal to the King James tradition often prefer the ESV.
  • The New Living Translation (1996) goes further than the NIV in the same direction — a true thought-for-thought translation that reads almost like contemporary prose. Easier to follow on a first reading, less suited for close study.
  • The New Revised Standard Version (1989) is the academic and mainline-Protestant counterpart to the NIV. More cautious, more ecumenical, with a different approach to inclusive language.
  • The King James Version (1611) is the translation the NIV was, in part, prepared to succeed. The NIV says in modern English what the KJV said in early-modern English — and is far more accessible for a reader new to Scripture.

Frequently asked questions

Is the NIV a reliable translation?

The NIV is a careful, scholarly translation produced over more than fifty years by a continuously sitting committee of biblical experts. It is one of the most-reviewed Bibles in history. Different readers will prefer different translation philosophies, and within the range of mainstream English Bibles the NIV is generally considered both faithful to the originals and well-suited to ordinary readers.

Is the 1984 NIV or the 2011 NIV the “original” NIV?

Both are real NIVs, prepared by the same Committee on Bible Translation working from the same charter. The 1984 wording is the one many older readers grew up with and the one printed in many study Bibles before 2011. The 2011 wording is the current edition Biblica supports, sells, and licences. The differences between them are modest — many verses are word-for-word identical — but the 2011 incorporates updated scholarship and a different handling of generic pronouns.

Why does the NIV say “brothers and sisters” in places older Bibles said “brothers”?

The Greek word adelphoi (“brothers”) is regularly used in the New Testament to address a whole congregation — men and women together — as the equivalent English word once did before usage shifted. The 2011 NIV translates it “brothers and sisters” in those contexts because that is what the Greek means today in English. Where the underlying word refers to actual male siblings, the NIV translates “brothers.”

Is the NIV based on the same Greek text as the King James?

No. The King James was translated from the Textus Receptus, a Greek text assembled in the sixteenth century from a small number of mostly late medieval manuscripts. The NIV is translated from the modern critical Greek text (Nestle-Aland / UBS), which draws on thousands of manuscripts including very early ones unknown to the KJV translators. The differences are usually small but occasionally affect a verse (Acts 8:37 and the longer ending of Mark 16 are the best-known examples).

Is the NIV copyrighted?

Yes. The NIV is owned by Biblica and licensed for publication and quotation under the terms set out in the front matter of each printed edition. Modest quotation in sermons, articles, and books is permitted without special permission; longer use requires a licence. This is one practical reason the NIV is not hosted in full on every Bible website — including ours.