Improvement of the NIV

Flaws found in the NIV

1) Isaiah 12:3 the omission of the conjunction should read, "therefore"
2) Mark 1:41 Jesus was indignant should read, "moved with anger."
3) John 1:16 should read, "...grace after grace."
4) John 21:5 friends should read, "children."
5) Acts of the Apostles 13:50 "leaders" should be italicized to indicate an addition to the text.
6) Romans 3:25 sacrifice of atonement should read, "propitiatory shelter."
7) 1 Corinthians 16:13 "be courageous" should read, "act like men."
8) Ephesians 2:3 deserving of wrath should read, "children of wrath."
9) Colossians 1:28 the omission of "every man" (or every person) reduces the force of the teaching that the gospel is understandable to every person.
10) 2 Thessalonians 2:13 to be saved should read, "for salvation."
11) 2 Thessalonians 3:6 who is idle should read, "who leads an undisciplined life"
12) 1 Timothy 3:16 appeared in the flesh should read, "revealed in the flesh."
13) Titus 3:4 love should read, "love for mankind."
14) Hebrews 10:14 sacrifice should read, "offering."
15) James 2:5 to be rich in faith should read, "yet rich in faith."
16) 1 Peter 4:6 those who are now dead should read, "those who are dead."
17) 1 John 2:2 atoning sacrifice should read, "propitiation."
18) 1 John 4:10 atoning sacrifice should read, "propitiation."
19) Revelation 13:8; 17:8 from the creation should read, "since the foundation." And Matthew 25:34 and Hebrews 4:3 since the creation should read "since the foundation."
20) Revelation 22:21 be with God's people should read, "be with all."
21) 1 Samuel 15:19 the Lord should read "the voice of the Lord."
22) 1 Samuel 15:20 the Lord should read "the voice of the Lord."
23) 1 Samuel 15:22 the Lord should read "the voice of the Lord."
24) Philemon 1:6 the verse should read as follows: "I pray that your participation in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every blessing that belongs to all of you in Christ Jesus."
25) 1 Corinthians 14:29 should read "Let two or three prophets speak, and the others evaluate." The NIV added "carefully" and "what is said."
26) 1 Corinthians 6:19 "your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you" should read "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in all of you.
27) Matthew 3:11 should read, ""As for me, I baptize all of you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize some of you with the Holy Spirit and others with fire.
28) Matthew 11:12 should read, ""Since the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens has been forcefully sought, and forceful people are laying hold of it."
29) 1 Corinthians 2:14 does not say all things that come from the Spirit, therefore the verse should read: The person without the Spirit does not accept some of the things of the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit,
30) Titus 2:11 "Offer" has been added which alters the message, the verse should read: For the grace of God, who provides salvation, has appeared to all people.
31) 1 Corinthians 3:1: Siblings I could not speak to you as people with the Spirit, but as to people without the Spirit, as babes in Christ who have yet to learn from the Spirit.
32) Acts of the Apostles 13:48: When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord and as many as accepted direction to eternal life believed.
33) Revelation 14:3, redeemed should read purchased.
34) 2 Peter 2:4, "hell" should be translated "Tartarus."
35) Romans 12:10, "love" should be translated "sibling love"
36) Acts of the Apostles 28:2, unusual kindness should be "love for humankind."
37) 1 Peter 2:3 should read "kindness of the Lord."
38) Luke 6:4 should read "lawful for Priests alone."
39) Luke 9:18 "praying in private" should read "praying alone"
40) Luke 10:40 "doing the work by myself" should read "doing the work alone."


Examples 1, 9, 13, 21, 22, 23, and 35 document omission of words or parts of words.
Examples 5, 15, 16, 25, 29 and 30 document addition of words.
Examples 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39 and 40 document replacement of the inspired historical meaning with a different meaning.
Example 24 and 28 documents a translation devoid of meaning, just an array of disconnected phrases.
Example 27 clarifies the confusion produced by the Greek plural "you."
Examples 31 and 32 present an unambiguous correction to the NIV translations.

When translators "add" words or phrases, "omit" words or phrases, or translate words or phrases outside of the historical-grammatical meaning unnecessarily, in order to make doctrine driven choices, they are presenting a flawed translation in my opinion. All translations have flaws, the product of fallible people, but the NIV flaws seem abundant to me.

 

Item 38 finds the NIV rendering "only" to be flawed in that the word actually means alone. One poster selected self-serving versions to indicate only a few translations used "priests alone."

Here was the false claim:

Note the LEB agrees that "priests alone" is preferred, and that other 20th and 21 Century versions also agree. Only four of the many versions were listed, proving a biased analysis to hide the flaws of the NIV.

KJ21
how he went into the house of God, and took and ate the showbread and gave also to them that were with him, which it is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?”
ASV
how he entered into the house of God, and took and ate the showbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat save for the priests alone?
AMP
how he went into the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful [for anyone] to eat except the priests alone, and [how he also] gave it to the men who were with him?”
BRG
How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?
DARBY
how he entered into the house of God and took the shewbread and ate, and gave to those also who were with him, which it is not lawful that [any] eat, unless the priests alone?
DLNT
how he entered into the house of God, and having taken the Bread of Presentation, he ate it and gave it to the ones with him, which is not lawful for anyone to eat but the priests alone?
JUB
how he went into the house of God and did take and eat the showbread and gave also to those that were with him, which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?
KJV
How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?
AKJV
how he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?
LEB
how he entered into the house of God and took the bread of the presentation, which it is not permitted to eat (except the priests alone), and ate it and gave it to those with him?”
NASB
how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”
NASB1995
how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”
NET
how he entered the house of God, took and ate the sacred bread, which is not lawful for any to eat but the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”
WEB
how he entered into God’s house, and took and ate the show bread, and gave also to those who were with him, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?”

 

The NIV fails to translate the same source word or phrase meaning into the same English word or phrase.

 

Acts 16:17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” (NIV)

Here, in red, is yet another example of what is called "grammatical transformation" where a noun is translated as if a verb, or other change in the grammar found in the Greek. Formal equivalence translations try to stick to the grammar as much as possible, but functional non-equivalence versions change the grammar.

Of the about 60 versions listed at Biblegateway, about 16 changed the noun to a verb, whereas the other 44 stuck with the noun translation of the noun.

Since the vast majority of versions stuck with the noun, the need to change it into a verb is questionable. But worse, what if the transformation resulted in an altered (corrupted) message. Does the way of salvation only refer to becoming saved, or does it also address our life after salvation?

If the idea had been "the way to salvation" the altered translation would not raise a flag, but since the idea is "the way of salvation" that would include all the teachings of Paul concerning Christian living.

Note that when Luke wants to say "to be saved" (Acts 16:30) he uses an actual verb.

 

One of the issues translators face is the issue of correcting designations to be accurate for today's audience. The "Sea of Galilee" is a fresh water "lake." But the inspired text refers to this "lake" as a sea which is at variance with today's designations.
The NIV, and more than 15 other English translations "fix" this problem and viola we get the lake, which grates on the ears of folks who read our bibles before the NIV became popular. See Luke 8:26.

However, the substitution of lake for sea is inconsistent, because where the whole designation (Sea of Galilee) appears, the NIV goes with correct literal translation (sea) but where just the body of water is mentioned, sea is transformed into lake. See Matthew 4:18.

At Matthew 8:26-27 the NIV changes "sea" not to "lake" but to "waves." At John 6:18, the NIV changes "sea" to "waters."

Bottom line the NIV changes a word meaning "sea" to lake or wave or water in an effort to "fix" the inspired text.

 

In 2 Peter 1:7 the NIV reads, "and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love." Here both the kindred affection and sacrificial love meanings are left untranslated. A better rendering is "and to godliness, sibling love; and to sibling love sacrificial love." Thus the truth Peter learned in John 21 would be presented, not hidden!

 

Now let us turn to G5543, chrēstos also translated as "kindness" by the NIV in Romans 2:4. Actually this word has two related meanings, to fit or work well, i.e. useful and beneficial, thus better than other choices, and "manageable" i.e. less harsh and more pleasant. Being kind is not being superficially nice, but are actions done for the actual benefit of another.

In Matthew 11:30 a better translation would be "My yoke is beneficial" rather than easy in light of verses saying we will be persecuted. But the NIV is not alone, nearly every translation says easy, or comfortable, or pleasant, all missing the message. Only one parenthetically said "useful."

In Luke 5:39, the NIV actually gets it right, using "better" rather than the more common "good."

In Luke 6:35, Romans 2:4 and Ephesians 4:32 the NIV gets it right with kind or kindness.

However, in 1 Corinthians 15:33, rather than "good" character, "beneficial" character would be closer to the actual word meaning.

And in 1 Peter 2:3, the NIV should go with "the kindness of the Lord."

Doing the best we can to present the actual word meanings improves bible translation.

 

Flaws found in the NIV

1) 1 Thessalonians 4:9, love for one another should read "sibling love."
2) Mark 1:41 Jesus was indignant should read, "moved with anger."
3) John 1:16 should read, "...grace after grace."
4) John 21:5 friends should read, "children."
5) Acts of the Apostles 13:50 "leaders" should be italicized to indicate an addition to the text.
6) Romans 3:25 sacrifice of atonement should read, "propitiatory shelter."
7) 1 Corinthians 16:13 "be courageous" should read, "act like men."
8) Ephesians 2:3 deserving of wrath should read, "children of wrath."
9) Colossians 1:28 the omission of "every man" (or every person) reduces the force of the teaching that the gospel is understandable to every person.
10) 2 Thessalonians 2:13 to be saved should read, "for salvation."
11) 2 Thessalonians 3:6 who is idle should read, "who leads an undisciplined life"
12) 1 Timothy 3:16 appeared in the flesh should read, "revealed in the flesh."
13) Titus 3:4 love should read, "love for mankind."
14) Hebrews 10:14 sacrifice should read, "offering."
15) James 2:5 to be rich in faith should read, "yet rich in faith."
16) 1 Peter 4:6 those who are now dead should read, "those who are dead."
17) 1 John 2:2 atoning sacrifice should read, "propitiation."
18) 1 John 4:10 atoning sacrifice should read, "propitiation."
19) Revelation 13:8; 17:8 from the creation should read, "since the foundation." And Matthew 25:34 and Hebrews 4:3 since the creation should read "since the foundation."
20) Revelation 22:21 be with God's people should read, "be with all."
21) 1 Samuel 15:19 the Lord should read "the voice of the Lord."
22) 1 Samuel 15:20 the Lord should read "the voice of the Lord."
23) 1 Samuel 15:22 the Lord should read "the voice of the Lord."
24) Philemon 1:6 the verse should read as follows: "I pray that your participation in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every blessing that belongs to all of you in Christ Jesus."
25) 1 Corinthians 14:29 should read "Let two or three prophets speak, and the others evaluate." The NIV added "carefully" and "what is said."
26) 1 Corinthians 6:19 "your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you" should read "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in all of you.
27) Matthew 3:11 should read, ""As for me, I baptize all of you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize some of you with the Holy Spirit and others with fire.
28) Matthew 11:12 should read, ""Since the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens has been forcefully sought, and forceful people are laying hold of it."
29) 1 Corinthians 2:14 does not say all things that come from the Spirit, therefore the verse should read: The person without the Spirit does not accept some of the things of the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit,
30) Titus 2:11 "Offer" has been added which alters the message, the verse should read: For the grace of God, who provides salvation, has appeared to all people.
31) 1 Corinthians 3:1: Siblings I could not speak to you as people with the Spirit, but as to people without the Spirit, as babes in Christ who have yet to learn from the Spirit.
32) Acts of the Apostles 13:48: When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord and as many as accepted direction to eternal life believed.
33) Revelation 14:3, redeemed should read purchased.
34) 2 Peter 2:4, "hell" should be translated "Tartarus."
35) Romans 12:10, "love" should be translated "sibling love"
36) Acts of the Apostles 28:2, unusual kindness should be "love for humankind."
37) 1 Peter 2:3 should read "kindness of the Lord."
38) Luke 6:4 should read "lawful for Priests alone."
39) Luke 9:18 "praying in private" should read "praying alone"
40) Luke 10:40 "doing the work by myself" should read "doing the work alone."
41) Matthew 11:30 should read "My yoke is beneficial."
42) 1 Corinthians 15:33 should read "beneficial character."



Examples 1, 9, 13, 21, 22, 23, and 35 document omission of words or parts of words.
Examples 5, 15, 16, 25, 29 and 30 document addition of words.
Examples 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42 document replacement of the inspired historical meaning with a different meaning.
Example 24 and 28 documents a translation devoid of meaning, just an array of disconnected phrases.
Example 27 clarifies the confusion produced by the Greek plural "you."
Examples 31 and 32 present an unambiguous correction to the NIV translations.

When translators "add" words or phrases, "omit" words or phrases, or translate words or phrases outside of the historical-grammatical meaning unnecessarily, in order to make doctrine driven choices, they are presenting a flawed translation in my opinion. All translations have flaws, the product of fallible people, but the NIV flaws seem abundant to me.