A Word About the NIrV
Have You Ever Heard of the New International Version?
We call it the NIV. A lot of people read the NIV. In fact, more people read the NIV than any other English Bible. They like it because it’s easy to read. And now we are happy to give you another Bible that’s easy to read and understand. It’s the New International Reader’s Version. We call it the NIrV.
Who Will Enjoy Reading the New International Reader’s Version?
We made sure that people who are just starting to read could understand and enjoy the NIrV. Children will be able to read it and understand it. So will older people who are learning how to read or those who are reading the Bible for the first time. So will people who have a hard time understanding what they read. And so will people who use English as their second language. We hope this Bible will be just right for you.
How Is the NIrV Different From the NIV?
The NirV is based on the NIY. The NIV Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) didn’t produce the NirV. But several members of CBT worked hard to make the NIrV possible. We used the words of the NIV when we could. When the NIV words were long, we used words that were shorter. We wanted to use words that are easy to understand. We explained words that might be hard to understand in a dictionary at the back of the Bible. We also made the NIV sentences much shorter.
Why did we do all of those things? Because we wanted to make the NIrV really easy to read and understand.
What Other Helps Does the NIrV Have?
We decided to give you a lot of other helps too. For example, sometimes a verse is quoted from another place in the Bible. When it is, we put the Bible book’s name, chapter and verse right after the verse that quotes another place.
We separated each chapter into shorter sections. We gave a title to almost every chapter. Sometimes we even gave a title to a section. We did it to help you understand what the chapter or section is all about.
Sometimes the writers of the Bible used more than one name for the same person or place. For example, in the New Testament the Sea of Galilee is also called the Sea of Gennesaret and the Sea of Tiberias. But in the NIrV we decided to call it the Sea of Galilee everywhere it appears in the New Testament. We did it because that is its most familiar name.
We also wanted to help our readers learn the names of people and places even in verses where those names don’t actually appear. For example, when we knew that “the River” meant “the Euphrates River,” we used those words even in verses where only the words “the River” are found. When we knew that the name of “Pharaoh” in a certain verse was “Hophra,” we wrote his name in that verse. We did all of those things because we wanted to make the NIrV as clear as possible.
Does the NIrV Say What the First Writers of the Bible Said?
We wanted the NIrV to say just what the first writers of the Bible said. So we kept checking the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament as we did our work. That’s because the Bible’s first writers used the Hebrew and Greek languages.
We used the best and oldest copies of the Hebrew, and Greek. Earlier English Bibles couldn’t use those copies because they had not yet been found. The oldest copies are best because they are closer in time to the ones the first Bible writers wrote. That’s why we kept checking the older copies instead of newer ones.
Newer copies of the Greek New Testament added several verses that the older ones don’t have.
Sometimes it’s just a single verse. When that’s the case, we put the verse itself in the list below.
But sometimes it’s several verses in a row. When that’s the case, we included them in the NIrV. But we set those verses off with a long line. That tells you that the first writers probably didn’t write them. The verses may have been added later on. You will find the long lines at Mark 16:9–20 and John 7:53—8:11.
What Is Our Prayer for You?
The Lord has blessed the New International Version in a wonderful way. He has used it to help millions of Bible readers. Many people have put their faith in Jesus after reading it. Many others have become stronger believers because they have read it.
We hope and pray that the New International Reader’s Version will help you in the same way. If that happens, we will give God all of the glory.
Verses That Were Not Found in the Earliest Greek New Testaments
Later copies of the Greek New Testament added several verses that the earlier ones don’t have. An example is Mark 9:44. That verse is not in the oldest Greek New Testaments. So we put the number 43/44 right before Mark 9:43. The verse for Mark 9:44 is listed below.
Matthew 17:21
But that kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.
Matthew 18:11
The Son of Man came to save what was lost.
Matthew 23:14
How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You take
over the houses of widows. You say long prayers to show off. So God will punish you
much more.
Mark 7:16
Everyone who has ears to hear should listen.
Mark 9:44
In hell, ‘The worms do not die. The fire is not put out.”
Mark 9:46
In hell, ‘The worms do not die. The fire is not put out.”
Mark 11:26
But if you do not forgive, your Father who is in heaven will not forgive your sins either.
Mark 15:28
Scripture came true. It says, “He was counted among those who disobey the law.”
Luke 17:36
Two men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other left.
Luke 23:17
It was Pilate’s duty to let one prisoner go free for them at the Feast.
John 5:4
From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down. The angel would stir up the waters. The first disabled person to go into the pool after it was stirred would be healed.
Acts 8:37
Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you can.” The official answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Acts 15:34
But Silas decided to remain there.
Acts 24:7
But Lysias, the commander, came. By using a lot of force, he took Paul from our hands.
Acts 28:29
After he said that, the Jews left. They were arguing strongly among themselves.
Romans 16:24
May the gr ace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen.