The Bible
For the past several years I have read the Bible using a different translation. In 2022 I used The NIV Foundation Study Bible. The readability is fantastic, it’s easy to navigate (I am reading on my iPad and on my phone), and I appreciate the brief introductory work at the front of each book. The study notes have been helpful, though I don’t find them as robust as The ESV Study Bible. They also seem to be more devotional in nature, but not in anyway exclusively written with life-application in mind.
This from the Introduction to the NIV Foundation Study Bible:
Purpose: As its name implies, the NIV Foundation Study Bible is designed to provide a foundation for Bible study. It is intended for both beginning and experienced students of the Scriptures who want a Bible that contains the key features of a study Bible in a convenient, compact, and concise form (22).
History: The NIV as a translation was born in 1978 as a completely new translation “made by over a hundred scholars working from the best available Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts” (24). The group was international in composition and from a diverse group of denominational backgrounds. Knowing language changes, the original group of translators established the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT), charged with periodic updates in keeping with the translators original purpose and driven by the conviction that the Bible is inspired to the very words. Revisions came in 1984, 2005 (resulting in the separately published TNIV.
Translation Philosophy: Three principles undergrid the translation philosophy: (1) WORDS MATTER: “The meaning of words is determined by the way that users of the language actually use them at any given time.” To translate effectively, a translator needs to know the source and the target audience. The CBT has given meticulous care to this principle. (2) CONTEXT MATTERS: Words stand alone, but they find their meaning within the historical context in which they were written. Clusters, phrases, clauses, sentences, discourses all shape the meaning of the word. Consequently, how the translated word functions “in combination with others words determines meaning” more than a “simple” word-for-word approach (28). (3) WORDS HAVE A SPECTRUM OF MEANING: “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 (29). In this sense clear meaning trumps the consistent use of the same word rendered in the receiving language.
Textual basis: The translators utilize the Masoretic Text as published in the latest edition of Biblica Hebraica. Occasionally, earlier “versions, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the scribal traditions were … followed where the Masoretic Text seemed doubtful and where accepted principles of textual criticism show that one or more of these textual witnesses appeared to provide the correct reading” (30). Greeks texts vary (see page 30 in the introduction for more). Also, since Old Testament writers often quote from the Septuagint, at times some Old Testament quotations (LXX) do not match the corresponding passages in the NIV translation.
One will find a concordance and full color maps to help in their study. And while all these tools are helpful, there is no substitute for “diving in" and with Jeremiah be able to say:
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight.” Jeremiah 15:16 NIV
