{"id":247,"date":"2010-11-08T00:25:57","date_gmt":"2010-11-07T13:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/?p=247"},"modified":"2010-11-08T00:32:03","modified_gmt":"2010-11-07T13:32:03","slug":"first-impressions-of-the-2011-niv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/?p=247","title":{"rendered":"first impressions of the 2011 niv"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new revision of the NIV translation is now available online at Bible Gateway, and this has prompted some discussion. Facilitating discussion are a couple<\/a> of sites<\/a> listing differences between the various revisions of the NIV.<\/p>\n

For first impressions it is most obvious to begin with the beginning \u2014 Genesis 1. The 2011 NIV follows the tNIV more closely than it does the original NIV, differing from tNIV primarily in its use of gendered language (preferring, for example, “mankind” over “human beings”). In most other respects the 2011 NIV is superior to the original NIV in Genesis 1: “vault” is better than “expanse” for the Hebrew \u05e8\u05e7\u05d9\u05e2<\/a>, and the purposeful “so that” in 1:26 is better than the old NIV’s simple “and.”<\/p>\n

If the changes in gendered language in the 2011 NIV satisfy those who vehemently opposed the tNIV for its attempt to employ more gender neutral language, the if the remainder of the text reflects similar improvements over the original NIV as those reflected in Genesis 1, the new translation should be a good upgrade.<\/p>\n

Of course a single chapter comparison does not make a comprehensive assessment, and I’m already aware that the 2011 NIV preserves the tNIV’s poor translation of Eccl 11:1 (h\/t John Hobbins<\/a>). On that verse I may make a further comment in the coming days.<\/p>\n

Of course for every bad choice there are also good ones. One immense improvement over the older NIVs as well as most other English translations is Mal 2:16. The older NIV presented the fairly standard:<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate divorce,\u201d says the LORD God of Israel, \u201cand I hate a man\u2019s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,\u201d says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The 2011 NIV has:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man who hates and divorces his wife,\u201d says the LORD, the God of Israel, \u201cdoes violence to the one he should protect,\u201d says the LORD Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why is this better? See my discussion in \u201cSyncretism and Divorce in Malachi 2:10\u201316,\u201d Zeitschrift f\u00fcr die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft<\/em> 111\/1 (1999) 68\u201386.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new revision of the NIV translation is now available online at Bible Gateway, and this has prompted some discussion. Facilitating discussion are a couple of sites listing differences between the various revisions of the NIV. For first impressions it is most obvious to begin with the beginning \u2014 Genesis 1. The 2011 NIV follows…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,24,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-languages","category-translation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions\/248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}