Christmas presents for the TNIV translation team

Someone mentioned the TNIV Bible version in a recent comment on this blog. I appreciated the honesty in that comment. Whether we like it or not, the TNIV Bible has become part of the gender debate. I do not wish for debate about the TNIV to appear on this blog. In fact, since this blog is now being moderated, I would likely not approve comments which continue the TNIV debate, because they are not directly related to the focus of this blog. The comment already posted did not continue the TNIV debate. Comments about the TNIV are appropriate to post on the TNIV Truth blog, where I also hang out.

But here's something which I do encourage people to do, especially those who enjoy good English and can spot when English writing could be better. If you have been reading the TNIV, and have spotted any wordings which seem to you could be improved, there is a webpage (created by me) where you can post that wording and a suggested revision.

You do not have to a Bible scholar to spot wordings which need revision. You just need to be an English speaker who can sense when something is not written quite right for normal English.

Let me give you a couple of examples:

Proverbs 31:30 of the TNIV has "a lion ... who retreats". Can you sense a problem with this? I did and suggested that the proper way to word this would be "a lion ... which retreats."

1 Samuel 19:4 of the TNIV says, "Let not the king do wrong to his servant David." The words "let not" are in reverse order from what most English speakers have said for a long time. It would be better to say, "Do not let the king ..."

We shouldn't enter the TNIV debate on this blog, but we can do something constructive and help the TNIV translators improve the TNIV.

Further directions will be found on the TNIV revisions suggestion page. If you don't have a TNIV, there are directions there for downloading a free copy of the TNIV.

Oh, if you decide you would like to check an entire book of the TNIV (there are several Old Testament books which have not been checked by non-TNIV translators yet), please note which book you will check in the survey with the green background on the TNIV Truth blog. If you do not have time to submit revision suggestions by the January 1 deadline, you can still submit them. It is an annual deadline. Your suggestions would just need to wait until the annual meeting of the TNIV team to be considered if they are submitted after January 1, 2008.