Biblica and Zondervan announced today the online release of the highly anticipated update to the text of the New International Version of the Bible (NIV).

The updated text is available for viewing at both www.BibleGateway.com and www.Biblica.com along with an overview of the translation methods and approach used by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). CBT is an independent body of global biblical scholars with sole responsibility for revising and updating the text of the world’s most popular modern English Bible.

The release of the text comes after years of rigorous translation work by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The members of the committee represent the very best in evangelical biblical scholarship. Its members are drawn from various denominations and from some of the finest academic institutions in the world. The CBT solicited and received input from scholars, pastors, missionaries and lay persons and reviewed every proposal, many of which led to revisions to the text.

“It has been a monumental undertaking to update the NIV, as well as a true honor to follow in the footsteps of the NIV founders who decades ago first defined the vision for a Bible translation that brings Bible readers as close as possible to the experience of the original audience,” said CBT Chair, Professor Douglas Moo. “We have invested countless hours of study and debate in pursuit of this vision, and we are delighted with the result. With this update, we believe the NIV continues to represent the optimum combination of transparency to the original documents and comprehensibility for the broad audience we serve.”

“Our desire as a committee is that God would touch the lives of people through his words as they are translated in the NIV, and we’re eager for people to begin engaging with the text.”

The CBT was formed in 1965 to create a modern English Bible translation from the oldest and best-attested biblical manuscripts. The NIV rapidly became the world’s most read modern-English Bible, with more than 400 million copies in print. Since the 1984 NIV update, the CBT has continued to meet every year in accordance with the NIV charter, which requires constant monitoring of developments in biblical scholarship and English usage and the reflection of these developments in periodic updates to the text.

“This is a great day for English-speaking Bible readers around the world,” said Keith Danby, International CEO of Biblica, the translation sponsor and copyright holder of the NIV. “I want to express my thanks to the Committee for their amazing dedication to this great task, and I also want to thank the many Bible scholars, linguists, pastors and laypeople who have made contributions to the update process. The result is a translation that stands in the long tradition of the NIV, offering the optimum blend of authenticity and accessibility in every verse.”
Moe Girkins, President and CEO of Zondervan, added: “We couldn’t be more delighted with the CBT’s finished work. It is wonderful to see the original values of the NIV carried forward and strengthened in this updated edition.”

The release of the text online follows CBT’s recent completion of the translation update and is in advance of the March 2011 print publication date. Further information on the committee members, the NIV translation philosophy and the research data used during the update process are available on the CBT’s website, www.NIV-CBT.org. A new NIV website, www.theNIVBible.com, will also launch to coincide with the text release. The site features information on the NIV, answers to frequently asked questions, and information on key partners.

“When the books of the Bible were first written, they captured exactly what God wanted to say in the languages and idioms used by the ordinary people of the time” said Professor Moo. “The NIV seeks to recover these priorities, allowing readers to perceive the structure of the original and the meaning of the original at the same time. The changes we have made in the update maintain and strengthen this focus, reflecting progress in biblical scholarship, developments in English usage, and an ongoing concern for clarity. We have also used new tools, drawing on state- of- the- art computational linguistic research to guide us in our decision-making and to ensure that the words we choose maximize comprehension of the original meaning.”

As part of the update process, the CBT initiated a relationship with Collins Dictionaries to use the Collins Bank of English, one of the world’s foremost English language research tools. The Collins Bank of English is a database of more than 4.4 billion English words that provides objective, statistically significant data on the state of written and spoken English at any given point in the history of the language. Working with some of the world’s leading experts in computational linguistics and using cutting-edge techniques developed specifically for the NIV update, the CBT gained an unprecedented and authoritative perspective on contemporary linguistic norms.

Biblica, as the worldwide publisher of the NIV, is the translation sponsor and copyright holder of the NIV. It is also a global Bible translation and resource ministry. Zondervan serves as the North American commercial publisher of the NIV Bible. Hodder serves as the UK and European Union commercial publisher of the NIV Bible.