Quelling a growing controversy about proposed changes in the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, the International Bible Society announced May 27 that it will forgo all plans to develop a revised edition of the NIV, which is the most widely read Bible in the English language.
The decision means that plans to adjust gender-related language to make the NIV more inclusive will be abandoned. IBS also said it would revise its current New International Readers Version — aimed at children and adults for whom English is a second language — to reflect a treatment of gender consistent with the NIV.
“The NIV doesn’t belong to IBS or our licensed publishers, it belongs to the people,” said Dr. Victor L. Oliver, board chair of IBS. “Virtually all other contemporary Bible translations already reflect gender treatments consistent with the language of today. However, the NIV has essentially become the Bible of the evangelical church, which has come to trust in and depend upon the NIV’s current accuracy, clarity and readability.”
Controversy over proposed changes in the NIV were stirred by a cover story headlined “Stealth Bible” in World magazine, an evangelical newsweekly.
— E.P. News
