A Word About The New International Reader’s Version
Have You Ever Heard of the New International Version?
We call it the NIV. Many 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 understand.
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?
People who are just starting to read will 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. People who are reading the Bible for the first time will be able to enjoy reading the NIrV. 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 NIV. The NIV Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) didn’t produce the NIrV. But a few of us who worked on the NIrV are members of CBT. We worked hard to make the NIrV possible. We used the words of the NIV when we could. When the words of the NIV were too long, we used shorter words. We tried to use words that are easy to understand. We also made the sentences of the NIV much shorter.
Why did we do all these things? Because we wanted to make the NIrV very easy to read and understand.
What Other Helps Does the NIrV Have?
We decided to give you a lot of other help too. For example, sometimes a verse is quoted from another place in the Bible. When it is, we tell you the Bible book, chapter and verse it comes from. We put that information right after the verse that quotes from 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 these things to help you understand what the chapter or section is all about.
Another example of a helpful change has to do with the word “Selah” in the Psalms. What this Hebrew word means is still not clear. So, for now, this word is not helpful for readers. The NIV has moved the word to the bottom of the page. We have followed the NIV and removed this Hebrew word from the NIrV. Perhaps one day we will learn what this word means. But until then, the Psalms are easier to read and understand without it.
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. Sometimes it is also called the Sea of Tiberias. But in the NIrV we decided to call it the Sea of Galilee everywhere it appears. We called it that because that is its most familiar name.
We also wanted to help you learn the names of people and places in the Bible. So sometimes we provided names even in verses where those names don’t actually appear. For example, sometimes the Bible says “the River” where it means “the Euphrates River.” In those places, we used the full name “the Euphrates River.” Sometimes the word “Pharaoh” in the Bible means “Pharaoh Hophra.” In those places, we used his full name “Pharaoh Hophra.” We did all these things in order 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 Greek New Testament as we did our work. That’s because the New Testament’s first writers used Greek. We also kept checking the Hebrew Old Testament as we did our work. That’s because the Old Testament’s first writers used Hebrew.
We used the best copies of the Greek New Testament. We also used the best copies of the Hebrew Old Testament. Older 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 the newer ones.
Some newer copies of the Greek New Testament added several verses that the older ones don’t have. Sometimes it’s several verses in a row. This occurs at Mark 16:9–20 and John 7:53—8:11. We have included these verses in the NIrV. Sometimes the newer copies added only a single verse. An example is Mark 9:44. That verse is not in the oldest Greek New Testaments. So we put the verse number 43/44 right before Mark 9:43. You can look on the list below for Mark 9:44 and locate the verse that was added.
Verses That Were Not Found in Oldest Greek New Testaments
This edition of the New International Reader’s Version has been revised so that the gender language more closely matches that of the New International Version. When we prepared this new edition, we had help from people who were not part of the first team. We want to thank them for their help. They are Ben Aker from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Paul House from the Southern Baptist Seminary, and Scott Munger from International Bible Society.
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 don’t die, / and the fire doesn’t go out.’
Mark 9:46 In hell, / “ ‘the worms don’t die, / and the fire doesn’t go 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, “And 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 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen.
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 the glory.
What Is Our Prayer for You?
This edition of the New International Reader’s Version has been revised to include the changes of the New International Version. Over the years, many helpful changes have been made to the New International Version. Those changes were made because our understanding of the original writings is better. Those changes also include changes that have taken place in the English language. We wanted the New International Reader’s Version to include those helpful changes as well. We wanted the New International Reader’s Version to be as clear and correct as possible.
We want to thank the people who helped us prepare this new edition. They are Jeannine Brown from Bethel Seminary St. Paul, Yvonne Van Ee from Calvin College, Michael Williams from Calvin Theological Seminary, and Ron Youngblood from Bethel Seminary San Diego. We also want to thank the people at Biblica who encouraged and supported this work.