Praise from Bible Scholars

• Holly Beers
  
  I was raised in a context where the New International Version was the primary Bible translation. As a youth I found it both readable and compelling, shaping my understanding of how God’s word speaks to us today. I am still seeking the voice of Scripture’s ultimate author, and to that end I use the NIV often in my personal study, sermon preparation, and class teaching. My respect and gratitude for the NIV has only grown, as I am able now as a professor to appreciate in new ways the decades of careful translation work by scholars of faith who came before me.

  — Holly Beers, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Westmont College



• Michael F. Bird
  
  

  I’ve used the NIV as a new believer and as a scholar. It is the gold standard of English translations, still a delight to read, to use in preaching and teaching. Subsequent revisions have only made it better. It is the Bible for the English-speaking world, from Australia to Zimbabwe. I thank God for the work of the men and women who put it together and made it available.
  — Dr. Michael F. Bird, Lecturer in Theology, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia



• Antony Billington
  
  When I first became a Christian in 1981, the Bible I started reading was the NIV. It has been my constant companion ever since – in personal devotions and regular preaching, through theological education and subsequent teaching at college level. I remain profoundly grateful for it, for those who have faithfully steered its revisions over the years, and for the God who continues to speak personally and powerfully through it.

  — Antony Billington, Head of Theology, London Institute for Contemporary Christianity



• Craig L. Blomberg (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  Some translations prioritize form and meaning over clarity and readability (formal equivalence). Others reverse those priorities (dynamic equivalence). A third category intentionally tries to be as accurate and as understandable as possible in every part of Scripture, realizing that at times one of those features has to give for the sake of the other (optimal equivalence). But translation decisions are made on a case-by-case basis in order to sacrifice the least. The NIV is by far the best known, used and loved of the optimally equivalent translations and deservedly so.

  — Dr. Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary



• Darrell Bock
  
  I have used the NIV since my seminary days in the 1970’s. I was looking for a translation that was accurate and idiomatically in tune with English expression. The NIV has filled that gap for fifty years. I have been using it for much of that time. We are fortunate in English to have many good translations. The NIV has always been at the forefront of those versions. Its clarity and faithfulness to the text are why it has had this consistent position. So it has been at my side throughout my ministry. The one who introduced me to this version was one of my professors in OT study, Ken Barker. He had worked on the translation and told me how carefully it was put together. My own work has confirmed his testimony. It is a pleasure to join in the celebration of fifty years for this fine translation. The Word of God well rendered is a treasure. That is the NIV.

  — Darrell Bock, Executive Director Cultural Engagement, The Hendricks Center, Senior Research Professor of New Testament, Dallas Theological Seminary



• Mark Boda (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  The reason the NIV is the most used translation today lies in its commitment to accurate translation expressing the meaning of the original texts in language resonating with contemporary readers. While raised on the King James Version as a child, during my teen years the NIV became the key which unlocked a door of personal engagement with Scripture. It has been a lifelong companion ever since, a base I have used for preaching, teaching and presenting my research on the word of God. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

  — Rev. Dr. Mark J. Boda, Ph.D. (Cantab.), Professor of Old Testament, McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada



• Jeannine K. Brown (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  The NIV, which has had such an impact on so many across the world, remains true to the original meaning of the biblical text and yet stays on course with the English language as it changes from generation to generation.

  — Jeannine K. Brown, Professor of New Testament, Bethel Seminary (NIV Translation Committee Member)



• Donald. A. Carson
  
  The Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) has repeatedly shown it understands that not only the words of Scripture were inspired by God, but also the syntax, grammar, and idioms of Scripture. The result has been the NIV, which understands the challenges of responsible translation, combining faithfulness, accuracy, and contemporary English. In my view, the NIV is the most readable of the faithful contemporary translations of the Bible.
  — Donald A. Carson, Research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois


• Oliver Crisp
  
  I grew up with the NIV. It was the translation that I used to memorize Scripture as a teenager, and the translation that, in many ways, formed me as a young adult. Although I have used other translations in the course of my work and ministry since then, it is to the NIV that I have returned again and again. Today, I still use it on a regular basis in family devotions. As a previous generation would think in terms of favorite passages from the Authorized Version, so I think in terms of favorite passages from the NIV: its language is the language of the Bible with which I am most familiar. Your work has brought Holy Writ alive to generations of Christians, and I for one am profoundly grateful to you for your service and dedication.

  — Oliver Crisp, Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary



• Jason S. DeRouchie
  
  What a kindness from our God to use the NIV to overcome so much theological famine in our world. I think of my father who is a missionary pastor in rural Appalachia. He has always used the NIV, and through his ministry hundreds have heard God’s word and experienced the joy of salvation. Thank you all for your faithfulness. Your diligence continues to let millions throughout the world encounter the living God every day, all for the glory of Christ.

  — Jason S. DeRouchie, PhD, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology, Bethlehem College & Seminary, Minneapolis, MN



• James Dunn
  
  NIV has been such a refreshing alternative to RSV/NRSV, NEB/REB, JB/NJB. Thanks to all involved.

  — James Dunn, Emeritus Lightfoot Professor of Divinity, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Durham



• J. Scott Duvall
  
  The Church owes a debt of gratitude to the Committee on Bible Translation and those who support them in their important work. Many of us have benefited from their tireless labor of scholarship in overseeing the NIV. In personal study and teaching, the NIV has been my primary Bible translation for the past twenty-five years. Thank you for using your God-given gifts to build up God’s people and point others to God’s word, faithfully and truthfully translated. May your work be richly rewarded.

  — J. Scott Duvall, Fuller Professor of New Testament, Ouachita Baptist University



• Simon Gathercole (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  The NIV both maximises faithfulness to the originals and makes it as accessible as possible. It resists the temptation to translate the original into an inelegantly wooden version, but it also avoids paraphrasing the Hebrew and Greek texts into loose, chatty English. In other words, the NIV combines being both the real Bible and real English.

  — Dr. Simon Gathercole, Reader in New Testament Studies, University of Cambridge



• Timothy George
  
  I have used the NIV since it first appeared. I still read it and love it. The NIV is a great marvel of modern Bible translation and proof of what Paul wrote to his young colleague Timothy, “The Word of God is not bound” (2 Timothy 2:9).

  — Timothy George, Founding Dean of Beeson Divinity School, Samford University; General Editor of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture



• Nijay Gupta
  
  I regularly consult the NIV for personal study and I often appeal to it in my sermons and lectures. It has stood the test of time for many decades and continues to speak to Christians today with each update.

  — Nijay Gupta, Professor of New Testament, North Seminary, Lisle, Illinois



• George H. Guthrie
  
  The impact you have had in the great Cause of Christ is, quite literally, incalculable. People must be able to hear and respond to God’s good word, and faithful Bible translation constitutes one of the most fundamental ways through which God speaks to individuals. Thank you for taking up the very difficult task of combining faithfulness and clarity in the NIV and your ongoing pursuit of making a great translation better. May the Lord bless your lives and ministries into the future.

  — George H. Guthrie, Benjamin W. Perry Professor of Bible, Union University



• Larry Hart
  
  The NIV will now continue to be at the forefront of modern English Bibles as the best translation for both public and private use. It combines accuracy and readability better than any other translation.

  — Larry Hart, Professor of Theology, Oral Roberts University



• Richard S. Hess (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  The NIV is the most accurate and readable English translation of the Bible for an in-depth understanding of what Scripture is teaching.

  — Dr. Richard S. Hess, Distinguished Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages, Denver Seminary



• David Instone-Brewer (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  The NIV is translated like a document at the UN. Every word and nuance must be conveyed, though the result shouldn’t look like a translation. Diplomats don’t need to remind themselves that the English version is stilted or means something different because the Israeli or Greek ambassador was speaking. Bibles that translate word-by-word are useful for interlinear displays, but to convey the meaning accurately requires more work. The NIV aims to create real English that reflects every word and intention of the original, and I’m amazed how often it succeeds in this humanly impossible task.

  — Rev. Dr. David Instone-Brewer, Tyndale House, Cambridge



• Krish Kandiah

  I grew up in a nominally Hindu and Catholic family, and after coming to faith through the witness of a friend at high school I read the Bible from cover to cover, highlighting something from virtually every page. The NIV was the first Bible I bought for myself as a new convert, and I was drawn closer to God through its readability and its commitment to accuracy and scholarship.

  The NIV is my heart Bible, it’s the version through which I came to understand who Jesus is, and it’s the version I have hidden in my heart through memorisation and prayer. The NIV is the text that I preach from, and it is the version that I read to my mother in her last few hours. The NIV has been a gift to me, my family, and my generation, and I am very grateful to the scholars who worked on the original translation and to those who have found ways to update its language to help it continue to be relevant and accurate as the English language evolves and as we recognise the need for more gender-inclusive language.
  — Dr. Krish Kandiah , President, London School of Theology



• Kelly M. Kapic
  
  The NIV has been a wonderful translation, powerfully helping the people of God for decades. I was first introduced to the Scriptures as I was given an NIV translation of the Bible and encouraged to read John’s Gospel. With no background or prior knowledge, I was so thankful for this accessible contemporary translation that opened up this mysterious world of the Scriptures to me in language I could understand. And I am only one of millions. Through the years the NIV has helped countless people to read, meditate upon, and even memorize the Bible. Every English-speaking Christian can celebrate and praise God for this good work.

  — Kelly M. Kapic, Professor of Theological Studies, Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, GA



• Craig Keener
  
  Thank you for your courage in pursuing the message of Scripture as honestly and fairly as possible. You have done so even when this commitment brought conflict from special interest groups who were defending their traditions over Scripture, whether attachment to the KJV or more recent issues. You have opened the way both for readers of the NIV and for some other translators in other venues to hear Scripture in a more compelling way, closer to their own heart language. May God continue to bless your work.

  — Craig Keener, Professor of New Testament, Asbury Theological Seminary



• John R. Kohlenberger III
  
  I so greatly appreciate your excellent work on the NIV! I adopted the New Testament in college and the whole Bible in seminary. It was a great privilege to base my career on developing tools—concordances, interlinears, topical Bibles, commentaries—to guide God’s people to more thorough study and reflection on God’s word, well and carefully expressed in your words. In my occasional work of teaching and preaching, I never found it necessary to use any translation except the NIV, and the 2011 revision does save me a great deal of time explaining gender-related language.

  So thank you for your careful and often brave work in giving the church the best English translation of our lifetime. I hope as the Committee is perpetuated that the NIV will always stay fresh and accurate so that each generation of believers can enjoy its guiding light in this present darkness.
  — John R. Kohlenberger III, Blue Heron Bookcraft, Inc.



• Mariam J. Kovalishyn
  
  he NIV is a careful translation that seeks to balance the various complexities of representing the ancient languages in modern English. Blending consideration of the meaning of each word with a deep awareness for phrasing and contextual meaning, the translators have sought to render each phrase and sentence in line with the original while also paying attention to modern English. As such it manages to be one of the most trustworthy translations available today and continues to serve as a gift to students of the Bible.

  — Mariam J. Kovalishyn, Assistant Professor, New Testament Studies, Regent College



• Tremper Longman III
  
  My students of Westmont College take their NIV for granted. For that reason I like to tell them about the pre-NIV days when I first became a Christian in the early 1970’s. There were not a lot of options in terms of English translations at least for the whole Bible. There simply was not a good readable, up-to-date, and accurate translation available. When the whole NIV appeared for the first time in 1978, it was a God-send for those of us who wanted to study Scripture seriously.

  These many years later the NIV is still the best-selling English translation of the Bible in spite of the fact that there are other good alternatives out there. It maintains its place in the hearts and minds of those who love Scripture because it faithfully reflects God’s ancient message to today’s readers. Congratulations to those, mostly departed, who began the process back in the 1950’s, and those who have shepherded the NIV to the present day.
  — Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College



• Martin Manser

  Where would we be without the NIV? It has contributed inestimably to evangelical biblical Christianity. It has weathered a few storms, e.g., the gender-inclusive arguments. Its determination to stay in tune both with biblical scholarship and changes in the English language has been used by God to encourage and challenge countless Christians and non-Christians in past and present generations.

  With new paraphrases appearing regularly, the NIV remains an anchor among translations, firmly rooted in God’s truth.

  May the Lord continue to give light to the ongoing work to keep the NIV current for future generations.
  — Martin Manser, Bible editor, England



• Scot McKnight
  
  This is an exceptional translation, designed to be read and heard in an idiom that we can understand.

  — Scot McKnight, Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary 
Author of Jesus Creed



• Chris Morgan
  
  I have appreciated the NIV since I was a high school freshman. I used the hardcover blue 10th Anniversary Edition of the NIV Study Bible as my favorite Bible for a decade or so. And in my first pastorate, I led the church to give that particular study Bible to dozens of new believers and new members. In my professor role, I used it as a textbook in a few New Testament Survey courses here at California Baptist University. The NIV’s clarity, crispness, and accuracy have been a blessing to me. Many, many thanks to those who have invested themselves in serving so many of us who have benefited from the NIV.

  — Dr. Chris Morgan, Dean and Professor of Theology, School of Christian Ministries, California Baptist University



• Bill Mounce (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  It has been my privilege to learn first-hand how to translate with a balance between accuracy and readability, and being reminded that accuracy has to do with accurately conveying the meaning of the biblical author. I want especially my Greek students to see how a translator struggles with the Greek text when forced to make an interpretive decision on almost every verse, and the NIV does precisely that.

  — Dr. Bill Mounce, President, BiblicalTraining.org



• Andy Naselli
  
  I thank God for the CBT. Well done! It was an honor to spend the last five years working with the updated NIV as I served as the assistant editor of the NIV Zondervan Study Bible.

  — Andy Naselli, Assistant Professor of New Testament, and Biblical Theology, Bethlehem College & Seminary, Minneapolis, MN



• Cherith Fee Nordling
  
  The NIV is the Bible I read as a young disciple of Jesus. As I have grown older, it too has grown in usage and refined translation, and throughout my life the NIV has remained my primary source for reading Scripture, whether in study, use in church or classroom, or quiet reflection and worship. This translation is thoughtful, even beautiful, in its treatment of different genres, its nuancing of idioms and its faithful rendering of language that speaks to the whole people of God, women and men. Throughout the NIV’s history, and certainly with this most recent translation, we have been granted easy access to God’s grand narrative of love and grace, ultimately spoken forth in his living Word, and our location in that ongoing story.

  — Cherith Fee Nordling, Associate Professor of Theology



• John N. Oswalt
  
  As a young man, it was my great privilege to serve on NIV committees working in Exodus, Psalms and Ezekiel. It was thrilling to work alongside men whose books I had read with profit, and to struggle with them over the precise nuances of the Hebrew in a given context. It was very instructive to see them working to achieve precision, readability and dignity all at the same time. In my estimation, it is this combination that has made the NIV the version of choice for so many persons, congregations, and denominations over the years. To be sure, there are always going to be “trade-offs” among those categories, and some would argue in one direction while others would argue in another. But overall, the NIV has achieved a better balance among the three categories than many other versions and translations have, and that has given it both enduring and endearing qualities.

  — John N. Oswalt, Ph.D., Visiting Distinguished Professor of Old Testament, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky, U.S.A.



• Richard D. Patterson
  
  I wish to thank the translation committee for their fine work on the NIV. It has been a help and blessing for many, many years. On a very practical note, I read it each morning as I eat breakfast. My healthy breakfast is thereby given spiritual nourishment that provides a solid foundation for the day. May the Lord enable you to keep up the good work!

  — Dr. Richard D. Patterson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Chairman of Biblical Studies, and Dean of Graduate Studies, retired, Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary



• Amy Peeler
  
  Achieving a middle way between strictly formal and dynamic translation, the New International Version provides a clear, engaging, and faithful translation. I’m delighted to recommend it to both my students and parishioners.

  — Rev. Dr. Amy Peeler, Associate Professor of New Testament, Wheaton College and Associate Rector, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church



• Miles V. Van Pelt
  
  The NIV translation of the Bible has set the standard for the last 50 years. It is clear, accessible, and accurate. For my generation, it is the translation that resides in our heart, with countless texts memorized and retained to this day.

  — Miles V. Van Pelt, Ph.D., Alan Belcher Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, Director, Summer Institute for Biblical Languages, Academic Dean, Jackson Campus



• Nicholas Perrin
  The NIV was my first Bible when I came to Christ in 1983. The first 60 verses I learned were from that version, and the NIV continues to be my go-to version. However, I am all the more appreciative of the updated versions. As a biblical scholar, I can see instance after instance in which the new is better than the old. Thanks to all the folks on the committee for all the hard work that has gone into this important project!

  — Nicholas Perrin, Ph.D., Dean of Wheaton College Graduate School, Franklin S. Dyrness Professor of Biblical Studies, Wheaton College Graduate School



• Peter Phillips
  
  The NIV has become the “go to” text of the Bible for me as a New Testament scholar, a preacher, and as a Christian disciple. For my academic work, it provides a well-researched, contemporary, and updated version of the Scriptures that offers deep insight into the original meaning of the text.

  Although clearly evangelical, the NIV does not impose its own categories upon the text and seek to amend the text to portray a specific ideological viewpoint – it is the text that matters throughout.

  For my work as a preacher, the NIV offers clear texts that are now so well known and well distributed. I can preach in most churches and find the NIV is available in the pews or downloadable onto people’s mobile devices. We can all look at the same text together and work out what the living Word of God is saying through this printed word.

  In my own devotional life, the NIV has become my regular reading partner, and I have managed to wear out several copies by almost constant use. Thank you so much for your work in putting this text together and for making it so widely available to expand and extend the work of the Kingdom of God.
  — Dr. Peter Phillips, FHEA, Director and Research Fellow in Digital Theology, CODEC Research Centre for Digital Theology, University of Durham



• Madison N. Pierce
  
  The New International Version is my far and away my favorite translation. Attending to both the form and meaning of the original languages, the NIV offers an accurate and accessible translation of Scripture, put together by an expert team of international men and women.
  — Madison N. Pierce, PhD, Assistant Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School


• Sandra Richter (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  The NIV translation represents decades of effort from dozens of the finest biblical scholars in the English-speaking world. The caution, diligence, and investment of this team is evident on every page. Here cutting-edge scholarship and exacting exegesis is combined with an uncompromising dedication to discipleship through the Word.

  — Dr. Sandra Richter Robert H. Gundry Chair of Biblical Studies at Westmont College



• Brian Rosner
  
  A good Bible translation needs two things: readability and accuracy. The NIV has both in spades. When I started reading the Bible in my youth I was handed an NIV. I can’t speak for the other 450 million owners of NIV Bibles, but I couldn’t put it down. The NIV proved for me to be the ultimate ‘page-turner.’ The Bible’s poetry moved me, its narratives enthralled me, its letters taught me, its apocalypses frightened me – just as they should. When I went to Seminary, and learned Greek and Hebrew exegesis, I read my NIV and was pleasantly unsurprised to find it rendered the original languages faithfully. I thank God for the NIV on this 50th Anniversary of its commissioning.

  — Dr Brian Rosner, Principal of Ridley College, Melbourne



• David Rudolph
  
  Your work has made an invaluable contribution to the Messianic Jewish community around the world. As a rabbi and scholar from that community, I would like to express my appreciation for all of your hard work and efforts. They are yielding a hundredfold return in the lives of countless Jewish followers of Jesus.

  — David Rudolph, PhD, Lecturer in New Testament, MJTI School of Jewish Studies



• Andrew Shead
  
  The NIV is the deserved heir to the King James Version as the standard translation of our times. No other version devotes the same year-by-year time and energy to the text as the NIV does, as it seeks to ensure that the meaning of the original is conveyed as precisely as possible in the language of today’s English speakers. Its influence can be detected in almost every other English version created since, not to mention Bible translation projects in hundreds of other languages. It is New, keeping pace with advances in biblical knowledge, and with changes in contemporary English. It is International, affiliated with no single denomination, and speaking the English of no single nation. As the cultural diversity of English-speaking nations increases, and the global mission field touches our own shores, the NIV has never been more important.

  — Dr. Andrew Shead, Head of Old Testament, Moore Theological College (NIV Translation Committee Member)



• Klyne R. Snodgrass
  
  I remember well the buzz about the appearance of the NIV New Testament while I was a student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in the 1960s. I knew some of my professors were involved in the translation work, and I quickly purchased my first NIV, the 1973 edition of the New Testament. If I remember correctly, I bought one for my parents as well. When the full Bible came out, I bought one for my wife. The NIV has been part of my ministry ever since. I have had a long career teaching at North Park Theological Seminary, and from the first the NIV was one of the translations I recommended for students. It has been the one most used by my students and by churches with which I have had contact. I do my own work with the original languages, but if I am checking a translation, it is usually the NIV, and when in class I display English texts electronically, it is nearly always the NIV. When asked about pew Bibles for my own church, the recommendation was for the NIV, and the new Bibles recently arrived. No translation is perfect—and I fuss with them as much as anyone, but the NIV serves the church well. The NIV has enabled people to read and understand with relative ease.

  I served as a consulting editor for Zondervan’s NIV Application Commentary and wrote the volume on Ephesians in that series. The success of the series is beyond anything I expected, and that is attributable to the popularity of the translation itself.

  I am deeply appreciative of the work done to accomplish this translation and to keep the revision process going, especially with regard to gender issues. I count many of the translators as friends, and I have deep respect for them and their work. Thank you for the enormous amount of labor that went into this process. May God continue to bless the translation and the people who work on it.
  — Klyne R. Snodgrass, Paul W. Brandel Professor of New Testament Studies, North Park Theological Seminary



• Joe Stowell
  
  Hats off to the Committee on Bible Translation for 50 years of effective work in bringing the word of God to us with a great blend of accuracy and relevancy. The hard work that the Committee has consistently put into this effort has blessed the Church with a version of Scripture that is trustworthy and understandable. From scholars to pastors to the laity, the NIV has been a tremendous blessing.

  — Joe Stowell, President, Cornerstone University



• Beth Stovell
  
  The NIV has been my translation since my childhood. Using this translation to study the Bible as I grew up was an important part of my path to becoming a biblical scholar and to my development as a Christian disciple. It is still the translation that resonates in my head when I recite Scripture. The NIV’s combination of thoughtful, close translations of the Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic alongside its readable approach has made it a translation that I continue to use to teach, preach, worship, and share the Gospel.

  — Dr. Beth M. Stovell, Associate Professor of Old Testament at Ambrose University and National Catalyst for Theological and Spiritual Formation for Vineyard Canada



• Mark L. Strauss (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  The New International Version is the best selling English Bible version in the world, and for good reason. Its clarity and high level of scholarship are the standards by which other versions are judged. While some translations use simpler, easy-to-read English, none can match the NIV in its literary excellence, readability and accuracy to the meaning of the original Hebrew and Greek texts.

  — Mark L. Strauss, PhD, University Professor of New Testament, Bethel Seminary



• Paul Swarup (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  The NIV is the Bible I began to feast on since the mid-eighties and was greatly nourished through it. The beauty of the NIV is the detailed attention paid to the accuracy of the original languages and the way it is correctly translated in modern English. The text of the NIV is also great for public reading as it not only reads well, but is coherent and easy to understand. The NIV has always taken a balanced approach between the meaning of the text in the original languages and the way it ought to be communicated in good modern English. The effort is always to keep the English language international staying true to its name as the New International Version.

  — Paul Swarup, Presbyter in Charge, Cathedral Church of the Redemption, New Delhi and Professor of Old Testament theology and study of the Dead Sea Scrolls at a number of Christian seminaries in India (NIV Translation Committee Member)



• Daniel B. Wallace (NIV Translation Committee Member)

  It is true that familiarity can breed contempt, and such may be the case with the NIV for some folks. This version has become the most popular Bible translation ever. But beneath its natural English are decades of research, dialogue, and deep exegetical thinking about the meaning of the Scriptures in their original languages. The NIV is the product of serious scholarship by godly women and men. In a word, this is a translation you can trust.
  — Daniel B. Wallace, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary and Executive Director, Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts



• John H. Walton
  
  When I think of all the centuries of Church History when people had very limited access to God’s Word in their own language, or when what was available had such limitations, I am grateful for the gift to the Church provided by the translators of the NIV and their continuing attention to sustaining it as a cutting edge resource for giving access to God’s gracious revelation of himself to his people.

  — John H. Walton, Professor of Old Testament, Wheaton College



• David Wilkinson
  
  The NIV was the Bible that accompanied the student years of Christian growth of my wife and me – in its beautiful use of contemporary language, its clarity, and its immense readability, it has been a gift to our understanding of God’s word. Further, it has been an amazing resource in our preaching, theological teaching, and in our evangelism.

  — Rev. Professor David Wilkinson, Principal, St Johns College, Professor, Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, UK



• Michael J. Williams (NIV Translation Committee Member)
  
  The NIV is the first full Bible that I bought after becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. It is uplifting and fulfilling for me now to be part of this international team of respected Christian men and women from diverse scholarly fields, representing a broad cross-section of the church, working together to produce a translation of God’s Word that is uncompromisingly faithful to the original languages, literarily beautiful, and readily understandable by believers all over the world. The NIV truly is a translation by the church for the church.

  — Dr. Michael J. Williams, Johanna K. and Martin J. Wyngaarden Senior Professor in Old Testament Studies, Emeritus



• Christopher J. H. Wright
  
  I was brought up as a child on the KJV, and still find that Bible verses emerge from my memory in those timeless phrases. In my teens, I shifted to the RSV (in spite of some objections from my more conservative Northern Ireland elders and betters). When the NIV was first published, I took to it immediately, in the context of my theological studies and the beginnings of my pastoral, preaching and teaching ministry. It had the clarity of straightforward contemporary English, without the colloquial chattiness or literary stiltedness of some other versions at that time. I have used it as my Bible of preference ever since, though my earliest copies have long since fallen apart under the onslaught of heavy use, scribblings, and global travels. I warmly welcome the most recent revision and commend it constantly to churches and individuals alike. It is particularly encouraging to know that the Committee for Bible Translation is an international team of evangelically committed men and women, some of whom are Langham Scholars, and one of whom sat in my Old Testament classes in India – where the Bible we used for all our exegetical work in English was – the NIV!

  — Christopher J. H. Wright, International Ministries Director, Langham Partnership



• Mark Young
  
  The updated NIV will be my next Bible of choice. Its balanced approach to translation that values equally fidelity to the languages and meaning of the original texts is just what we need.

  — Mark Young, President, Denver Seminary