xx | Preface
other words , to carry over the form of the biblical languages into English — but not at the expense of natural expression . The principle that meaning resides in larger clusters of words means that the Committee has not insisted on a “ word-for-word ” approach to translation . We certainly believe that every word of Scripture is inspired by God and therefore to be carefully studied to determine what God is saying to us . It is for this reason that the Committee labors over every single word of the original texts , working hard to determine how each of those words contributes to what the text is saying . Ultimately , however , it is how these individual words function in combination with other words that determines meaning .
A third linguistic principle guiding the Committee in its translation work is the recognition that words have a spectrum of meaning . It is popular to define a word by using another word , or “ gloss ,” to substitute for it . This substitute word is then sometimes called the “ literal ” meaning of a word . In fact , however , words have a range of possible meanings . Those meanings will vary depending on the context , and words in one language will usually not occupy the same semantic range as words in another language . The Committee therefore studies each original word of Scripture in its context to identify its meaning in a particular verse and then chooses an appropriate English word ( or phrase ) to represent it . It is impossible , then , to translate any given Hebrew , Aramaic or Greek word with the same English word all the time . The Committee does try to translate related occurrences of a word in the original languages with the same English word in order to preserve the connection for the English reader . But the Committee generally privileges clear natural meaning over a concern with consistency in rendering particular words .
TEXTUAL BASIS
For the Old Testament the standard Hebrew text , the Masoretic Text as published in the latest edition of Biblia Hebraica , has been used throughout . The Masoretic Text tradition contains marginal notations that offer variant readings . These have sometimes been followed instead of the text itself . Because such instances involve variants within the Masoretic tradition , they have not been indicated in the textual notes . In a few cases , words in the basic consonantal text have been divided differently than in the Masoretic Text . Such cases are usually indicated in the textual footnotes . The Dead Sea Scrolls contain biblical texts that represent an earlier stage of the transmission of the Hebrew text . They have been consulted , as have been the Samaritan Pentateuch and the ancient scribal traditions concerning deliberate textual changes . The translators also consulted the more important early versions . Readings from these versions , the Dead Sea Scrolls and the scribal traditions were occasionally followed where the Masoretic Text seemed doubtful and where accepted principles of textual criticism showed that one or more of these textual witnesses appeared to provide the correct reading . In rare cases , the translators have emended the Hebrew text where it appears to have become corrupted at an even earlier stage of its transmission . These departures from the Masoretic Text are also indicated in the textual footnotes . Sometimes the vowel indicators ( which are later additions to the basic consonantal text ) found in the Masoretic Text did not , in the judgment of the translators , represent the correct vowels for the original text . Accordingly , some words have been read with a different set of vowels . These instances are usually not indicated in the footnotes .
The Greek text used in translating the New Testament has been an eclectic one , based on the latest editions of the Nestle-Aland / United Bible Societies ’ Greek New Testament . The translators have made their choices among the variant readings in accordance with widely accepted principles of New Testament textual criticism . Footnotes call attention to places where uncertainty remains .
The New Testament authors , writing in Greek , often quote the Old Testament from its ancient Greek version , the Septuagint . This is one reason why some of the Old Testament quotations in the NIV New Testament are not identical to the corresponding passages in the NIV Old Testament . Such quotations in the New Testament are indicated with the footnote “( see Septuagint ).”