Translation Inaccuracies
in the 2005 TNIV New Testament:
An Updated Categorized List of 910 Examples
Note: This list of translation inaccuracies, which was originally based on the 2002 Today's New International Version – New Testament, has now been updated to correspond to the revised New Testament in the 2005 TNIV. We found that some inaccuracies in the 2002 TNIV have been corrected by the translation committee and others have been introduced, with the result that this list has been changed from 901 examples to 910 examples.
All the changes noted here are from the 1984 NIV (which had translated gender language accurately in these verses) to the 2005 TNIV.
Most of the changes in this list have to do with gender language, and the changes have been made to avoid using five words with masculine meaning or nuance: father, brother, son, man, and he/him/his. However, at the end we have also included a list of 24 verses that were changed to avoid using the phrase "the Jews" and 41 verses where the nuance of holiness in "saints" has been lost.
With regard to the use of gender language, it seems to us that in every case listed here the change eliminates masculine meaning or masculine nuances that are present in the underlying Greek terms, and also that these changes frequently go beyond the legitimate bounds of ordinary, well-established meanings for the common Greek words being translated (though in some cases there are differences among the lexicons, as noted in the individual categories below). These examples therefore seem to us to be “translation inaccuracies” that were included in the TNIV for the sake of producing a more “gender neutral” or “inclusive language” version.
This list was prepared under general oversight of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and has been compared for accuracy against the Greek New Testament. In the event that readers may find any corrections or additions that may need to be made, we would welcome your input sent to us at:
[email protected]
A. Changes from Singular to Plural to Avoid the Use of “He/Him/His”
“he/him/his/himself” changed to “they/them/their /themselves” (where Greek has singular verb and/or masculine singular 3rd person pronoun) (217)
Matt. 10:10, 24 (2x), 25 (2x), 38, 39 (2x); 12:35 (2x); 13:12 (3x), 19, 21 (3x), 23, 57 (2x); 16:24, 25 (2x); 18:15 (2x), 17 (2x); 23:12 (2x); 25:29 (3x); Mark 2:22 (2x); 4:25 (2x); 6:4 (3x); 8:34 (2x), 35 (2x); 13:13; Luke 4:24; 5:37; 6:40 (2x), 45 (2x), 47, 48; 8:18 (3x); 9:24 (2x); 10:7; 12:21; 14:11 (2x); 14:27; 16:16; 17:33 (2x); 18:14 (2x); 19:26; John 3:20 (2x), 21; 4:14 (3x), 36 (2x), 44; 7:53; 11:9, 10 (2x); 12:25 (2x), 35, 45 (2x), 47, 48; 13:10 (2x), 16 (2x); 14:12; 15:15, 20; 16:2; Rom. 4:8; 14:4 (4x), 6, 22, 23 (2x); 15:2; 1 Cor. 4:5; 6:18 (2x); 8:2 (2x); 11:29; 14:2 (2x), 4, 5, 13 (2x), 16, 28 (2x), 37, 38; 2 Cor. 9:9 (3x); 10:18; 11:20; Gal. 4:1 (2x), 2 (2x); 6:6, 7, 8; Eph. 4:28 (2x); 5:29 (3x); Phil. 3:4; Col. 2:18 (3x), 19; 3:25; 2 Thess. 3:14 (2x), 15 (2x); 1 Tim. 5:18; 2 Tim. 2:21; Titus 3:10 (2x), 11; Heb. 2:6 (2x), 7 (2x), 8 (4x); 4:10; Jas. 1:7, 8, 9, 10 (2x), 11 (2x), 12 (2x), 23, 24 (2x), 25 (3x), 26 (4x); 2:14, 24; 5:19; 2 Pet. 2:19;1 John 2:4, 5, 10 (2x), 11 (3x); 3:3, 9 (3x), 10; 5:16, 18 (2x); Rev. 2:27, 28; 3:5 (2x), 12 (3x); 16:15 (2x); 21:7 (2x)
“he/him/his/himself” (with singular Greek verb and/or masculine 3rd person singular Greek pronoun) changed to “they/them/their/themselves” (with singular antecedent in English; these are examples of the so-called "singular they") (159)
Matt. 5:39, 41; 10:38, 39 (2x); 11:15; 13:9, 43; 15:4, 5, 6 (2x); 16:24 (2x), 25 (2x), 27; 18:6 (3x), 15 (2x), 16, 17 (3x); 24:18; Mark 2:21; 4:9, 23; 7:10, 11, 12 (2x); 8:34 (2x), 35 (2x); 9:42 (3x); 11:25; 13:16; Luke 2:3; 5:36 (2x); 8:8, 16; 9:23 (2x), 24 (2x); 14:27, 35; 17:3 (3x), 4 (2x), 33 (2x); John 3:4 (3x), 18, 36; 6:40, 44, 65 (2x); 7:18, 38; 10:9; 11:25; 14:21 (3x), 23 (3x); Acts 2:6; 4:32 (2x); 25:16 (3x); Rom. 2:6; 4:4 (2x), 5; 8:9, 24; 11:35 ("who"?); 14:2, 5; 1 Cor. 3:8 (2x); 8:10; 11:28 (2x), 29 (2x); 10:24; 14:24, 25 (2x); 2 Cor. 5:10; 10:7 (3x); 1 Tim. 5:8 (2x); 6:4 (2x); 2 Tim. 2:4; Jas. 3:13 (2x); 4:11; 5:13 (2x), 14 (3x), 15 (4x), 20 (2x); 1 John 2:5; 3:15, 17; 4:15 (2x), 16; 2 John 1:10 (2x), 11 (2x); Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 12, 13, 20 (2x), 22; 13:9, 10 (2x); 14:9 (2x), 10 (2x); 22:12
“he/him/his/himself” (singular verb and/or masculine singular 3rd person pronoun in Greek) changed to “those” (often “those who”) (36)
Matt. 7:8 (2x), 21; 10:22; Luke 6:47; 11:10 (2x); John 15:23; Rom. 14:1, 6 (3x); 1 Cor. 1:31; 7:22 (2x); 14:4 (2x), 5, 38; 2 Cor. 10:17; Eph. 4:28; 2 Thess. 3:14; 1 Pet. 4:1; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 22:7, 11 (4x), 17
“he/him/his/himself” changed to “you/your/yourself” (90)
Matt. 6:24 (2x); 6:27; 7:9; 10:36; 16:26 (4x); Mark 7:15 (3x), 18, 19 (3x), 20; 8:36, 37, 38; 11:23 (3x); Luke 5:39; 9:25, 26; 11:8 (4x); 12:25; 13:15; 14:28 (2x), 29 (2x), 33; 16:13 (2x); John 15:5 (2x), 6; 16:32; 1 Cor. 3:18 (3x); 6:1; 7:17 (2x), 20 (2x), 24; 16:2; 2 Cor. 9:7 (2x); Gal. 6:3 (4x), 4 (4x), 5; Eph. 4:25; 6:8 (2x); 1 Thess. 4:4; Jas. 1:5 (2x), 6 (2x), 14 (2x); 4:17; 1 Pet. 3:10 (2x), 11 (2x); 2 Pet. 1:9 (3x); 1 John 2:15; 3:17; 5:16 (2x); Rev. 22:18, 19 (2x)
“he/him/his/himself” changed to “we/our/ourselves” (9)
Rom. 14:7 (2x—ourselves); 12 (ourselves); 15:2 (ourselves); 1 John 4:20 (5x--we)
“he/him/his/himself” changed to no pronoun (sentence changed to other wording) (17 verses)
Matt. 5:22; 18:4; Luke 6:45; 9:62; 12:8, 15, 47 (2x); 14:26; John 7:18; 1 Thess. 4:6; 1 John 2:9, 11; 3:15, 17; 4:20; 5:10
“he/him/his/himself” is omitted (25)
Matt. 5:40; 10:32, 33, 42; 12:29 (2x); 18:15; Mark 8:34; 9:35, 41; 10:28; 13:34; Luke 9:48; 10:6; 11:8; John 3:27; 7:17; 1 Cor. 2:14; 1 Thess. 4:6; 2 Tim. 2:5, 21; Heb. 10:38; Jas. 4:11; 5:13, 14;
“he/him/his/himself” changed to “other” (2)
Matt. 18:15 (omit "your" and "you"); 1 John 5:16 (any)
“whoever” (singular) changed to “those” (often “those who”) (12)
Matt. 13:12 (2x); 23:12 (2x); Mark 4:25 (2x); Luke 8:18 (2x); John 3:21; 4:14; 1 John 2:11; Rev. 22:17
“anyone” (singular) changed to “those” (often “those who”) (6)
John 16:2; 1 Cor. 14:2; James 1:23; 3:2; 1 John 3:10; Rev. 13:18
“one” (singular) changed to “those” (often “those who”) (8)
Luke 6:49; John 12:48; 1 Cor. 14:5; 2 Cor. 10:18 (2x); Gal. 6:8 (2x); 1 John 3:9
“everyone” (singular) changed to “those” (often “those who”) (7)
Matt. 25:29 (2x); Luke 14:11 (2x); 18:14; John 3:20; 1 Cor. 14:3
Other changes from singular to plural for the whole sentence (20)
Matt. 10:10, 24 (2x); 13:19, 20, 57; 19:23, 24; Mark 2:22; John 11:9, 10; 12:25 (2X), 35, 44, 47; 13:10; Rom. 13:4; 14:23; Gal. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:21; 1 John 2:4; 3:10; Rev. 21:7; 22:7
Words left untranslated in process of changing verse from singular to plural or from masculine to gender-neutral (2)
Matt. 18:17 (“them”); Heb. 12:9 (“human”)
B. Changes to Avoid the Word “Father” and Related Words
“father” (pater, singular) changed to “parents” (1)
Acts 7:20
“fathers” (pater, plural) changed to “parents” or “people” (2)
(Though “parents” is sometimes acceptable as a meaning for the plural of pater, in this case the context is speaking of fatherly discipline)
Acts 7:11; Heb. 12:9
“fathers”/forefathers” (pater, plural) changed to ancestors (34)
(The BDAG Lexicon, p. 786-787, gives “ancestors” as a possible meaning, but the LSJ Lexicon (p. 1348) only gives the meaning of “forefathers.” We have included these verses in this list because they seem to us to fit the general pattern of excluding male nuances in the TNIV, and because the male nuance or connotation of the plural word pateres would have been evident to the original Greek readers, but “ancestors” has no evident relationship to the word “father” and no male connotation in English.)
Matt. 23:30, 32; Luke1:55, 72; 6:23, 26; 11:47, 48; John 4:20; 6:31, 49, 58; Acts 5:30; 7:12, 15, 19, 38, 39, 44, 45, 51, 52; 13:17, 32, 36; 15:10; 22:14; 26:6; 28:25; 1 Cor. 10:1; Heb. 1:1; 3:9; 8:9; 2 Pet. 3:4
C. Changes to Avoid the Word “Brother” (Or to Add the Word “Sister”)
“brother” (adelphos, singular) changed to “brother” or “sister” (19)
Matt. 5:22 (2x), 23; 18:15, 35; Luke 17:3; Rom. 14:10 (2x), 13, 15, 21; 1 Cor. 8:11, 13; 1 Thess. 4:6; Jas. 4:11; 1 John 3:10, 17; 4:20; 5:16
“brother” (adelphos, singular) changed to “(fellow) believer” (5)
(The BDAG Lexicon, p. 18, lists “brother, fellow member, member, associate” as possible meanings for adelphos, but all the singular examples listed refer to male human beings. The earlier BAGD Lexicon, p.16, did not give these meanings, and the new BDAG Lexicon (2000) gives no new examples or new arguments to justify these new meanings that it proposes. The LSJ Lexicon (p. 20) gives the meaning “brother (as a fellow Christian)”, but does not give the meaning “believer.”)
2 Thess. 3:6; 1 John 2:9, 11; 3:15; 4:20
“brother” (adelphos, singular) changed to “(fellow) believers” (4)
1 Cor. 5:11; 2 Thess. 3:15; Jas. 1:9; 1 John 2:10
“brother” (adelphos, singular) changed to “other” (15)
Matt. 5:24 (that person); 7:3 (someone else), 4 (omitted), 5 (other person); 18:15 (them), 21 (someone); Luke 6:41 (someone else), 42 (friend, other person); 1 Cor. 8:13 (them); 1 Thess. 4:9 ("brotherly love" to "your love for one another"); Heb. 8:11 (one another); James 4:11 (them); 2 Pet. 1:7 (mutual affection--2x); 1 John 4:21 (one another)
“brothers” (adelphos, plural) changed to “brothers and sisters” (where sisters is uncertain or doubtful) (8)
Acts 1:16; 2:29; 13:26, 38; 2 Cor. 11:9; Heb. 2:17; Jas. 3:1; Rev. 19:10
“brothers/brotherhood” (adelphos, plural) changed to “fellow believers” (4)
Acts 15:22; 1 Tim. 6:2; 1 Pet. 2:17; 5:9
“brothers” (adelphos, plural) changed to “believers” (27)
John 21:23; Acts 9:30; 10:23; 11:1, 29; 15:1, 3, 22, 32, 33, 36, 40; 16:2, 40; 17:6, 10, 14; 18:18, 27; 21:7, 17; 28:14, 15; 2 Cor. 11:26; Gal. 2:4; 3 John 1:3, 10
“brothers” (adelphos, plural) changed to “other” (11)
Matt. 5:47 (own people); 22:5 (associates); 28:21 (our people); Acts 22:5 (“associates”); 28:21 (“our people”); 1 Cor. 8:12 (them); 1 Thess. 4:10 (dear friends); 5:26 (God's people); 1 John 3:14 (each other), 16 (one another); Rev. 22:9 (fellow prophets)
“brothers”(adelphos, plural) omitted (2)
Matt. 7:4; 1 Cor. 15:31 (TNIV uses less likely variant reading)
D. Changes to Avoid the Word “Man”
“man” or “husband” (aner, singular) changed to “other” (7)
(The BDAG Lexicon (p. 79) gives as the general definition of aner the meaning, “a male person,” and under that general definition it gives as meaning 2, “equivalent to tis, someone, a person.” All the examples they list under meaning 2 either clearly refer to a male human being (as Luke 19:2, for example, “and there was a man named Zacchaeus”), or the context is not determinative but the meaning “man” makes good sense and the meaning “person” is not required. BDAG at the end of this entry also notes an idiom, katandra, which clearly means “man for man, individually,” and clearly includes women in some instances, but that idiom does not occur in the New Testament. The LSJ Lexicon (p. 138) also notes the idiom katandra, with a similar meaning. The LSJ Lexicon does not give the meaning “person” for aner, but rather, “man, op-posed to women,” “man, opposed to god,” “man, opposed to youth,” “man emphatically, man indeed,” “husband,” and some special usages. For further discussion on the word aner, “man,” see Vern Poythress and Wayne Grudem, The Gender Neutral Bible Controversy (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2000), p. 101, note 2, and pages 321-333; see also, “Can Greek aner (“man”) sometimes mean “person”?” at www.cbmw.org/TNIV/aner.html.)
Rom. 4:8 (those); 1 Tim. 3:2, 12 (“husband” to “faithful” on both); Jas. 1:12 (those), 20 (our), 23 (people); 2:2 (someone)
“man” (aner, singular) omitted (2)
Jas. 1:8; 3:2
“men” (aner, plural) changed to “people”(10)
Matt. 12:41; Luke 11:31, 32; Acts 2:22; 3:12; 13:16; 17:22, 34; 19:35; 21:28
“men” (aner, plural) changed to “other” (4)
Acts 14:15 (friends); 17:34 (people); 19:25 (friends); 20:30 (some)
“men” (aner, plural) omitted (2)
Luke 14:24; Acts 15:22 (Judas Barsabbas & Silas)
“man” (anthropos, singular) changed to “people” or other plural nouns (9)
Matt. 12:35 (2x); 18:7; Luke 6:45 (2x); Rom. 1:23; 4:6; Gal. 6:7; 2 Tim. 3:17
“man” (anthropos, singular) changed to “you/your” (10)
Matt. 10:36; 15:11, 18, 20; 16:26 (2x); Mark 7:23; 8:36, 37; Luke 9:25
“man” (anthropos, singular) changed to “human being/human/mere mortal” when referring to a specific historical man (6)
Acts 10:26 (Peter); Acts 12:22 (Herod); 1 Cor. 15:21 (Jesus); Phil. 2:8 (Jesus); 1 Tim. 2:5 (Jesus); Jas. 5:17 (Elijah)
“men” (anthropos, plural) changed to “people” when referring to male human beings (1)
Heb. 5:1 (high priests)
“men” (anthropos, plural) changed to “other” (8)
(Neither the meaning “man” nor the meaning “person” is represented in these verses.)
Matt. 5:13 (underfoot); 10:32 (publicly), 33 (publicly); Luke 12:8 (publicly), 9 (publicly), 36 (servants); John 8:17 (witnesses); 1 Cor. 7:7 (you)
“men” (anthropos, singular or plural) omitted (8)
Matt. 10:17; 16:26 (2x) 19:12; Luke 12:8; Acts 4:12 (no other name under heaven); 17:26 (all nations); 1 Tim. 5:24 (sins of some)
“man” (anthropos, singular) meaning the human race changed to “people/mortals/human” (6)
Matt. 4:4; Mark 2:27 (2x); Luke 4:4; John 2:25; Heb. 2:6 (mere mortals); 13:6 (human beings)
E. Changes to Avoid the Word “Son”
“son” (huios,, singular) changed to “child” (3)
Matt. 23:15; Luke 14:5; Heb. 12:6
“son” (huios,, singular) changed to “children” (3)
Gal. 4:7 (2x—sentence plural); Rev. 21:7 (sentence plural)
“sons” (huios, plural) changed to “children” (16)
Matt. 5:9, 45; 17:25, 26; Luke6:35; John 12:36; Rom. 8:14, 19; 9:26; Gal. 3:26; 1 Thess. 5:5 (2x); Heb. 12:5, 7 (2x), 8
“sons” (huios, plural) changed to “people” (2)
Matt. 13:38 (2x)
“sons” (huios, plural) changed to “sons and daughters” (1)
Heb. 2:10
F. Changes to Avoid the Phrase “The Jews”
“the Jew(s)” (hoi ioudaioi) changed to “Jewish leaders” (15)
The 2000 BDAG Lexicon (pages 478-479) objects to translating hoi ioudaioi as “the Jews” because it claims that “many readers or auditors of Bible translations to not practice the historical judgment necessary to distinguish between circumstances and events of an ancient time and contemporary ethnic-religions-social realities, with the result that anti-Judaism in the modern sense of the term is needlessly fostered through biblical texts” (p. 478). In other words, we should no longer translate hoi ioudaioi as “the Jews” because many Bible readers today will not realize that the Bible is talking about ancient Judaism, not modern Judaism. So it favors the translation, “Judean.”
However, we find this argument unpersuasive and believe that the term “Judean” will wrongly imply a reference to people who simply live in a certain geographical area, whether Jews or not, and will not adequately convey the religious and ethnic identification with the ancient Jewish people that the term “the Jews” implies.
On the next page, the BDAG Lexicon discusses the phrase hoi ioudaioi when it is used of people who are opposed to Jesus, and says the following: “Those who are in opposition to Jesus, with special focus on hostility emanating from leaders in Jerusalem, center of Israelite belief and cult; there is no indication that John uses the term in the general ethnic sense suggested in modern use of the word Jew, which covers diversities of belief and practice that were not envisaged by biblical writers …” (p.479). In other words, John does not use the word “Jew” to speak of modern Judaism or anything like the diversity of modern Judaism.
The implication of this BDAG comment is, again, that modern readers will not understand that John is referring to ancient Jews in the first century and that these are different from modern Jews in the 21st century. While we agree that John did not use hoi ioudaioi to refer to modern Judaism, we believe that readers of the Bible are able to realize that they are reading about events that occurred in ancient history. To take another example, when Bible readers today read that “Jesus entered Peter’s house” (Matt. 8:14), we don’t avoid using the word “house” out of fear that people will think Matthew meant a modern house with electricity and air-conditioning and an automatic dishwasher. Readers automatically realize that they are reading an ancient document and that “house” refers to whatever kind of house people had in first century Palestine. Even if the BDAG Lexicon is correct in saying that hoi ioudaioi can be used “with special focus on hostility emanating from leaders in Jerusalem,” that does not mean that only the leaders were involved in such opposition to Jesus, for no doubt many common people were involved as well. And there were some Jewish leaders, such as Nicodemus (see John 3) who did not join in the opposition to Jesus. So it seems to us that changing hoi ioudaioi from “the Jews” to “Jewish leaders” introduces an incorrect change of meaning into a translation.
The older BAGD Lexicon (1979) simply translates hoi ioudaioi as “the Jews” (p. 379). The LSJ Lexicon simply translates ho ioudaios (singular form) as “a Jew,” and gives no special meaning for the plural form (p. 832).
John 1:19; 5:10, 15, 16; 7:1, 11, 13; 9:22; 18:14, 36; 19:31, 38; 20:19; Acts 13:50; 21:11
“the Jew(s)” (hoi ioudaioi) changed to “they” or omitted (9)
John 2:20; 5:18; 8:52, 57; 9:18, 22; 10:33; 18:31; Acts 18:14
G. Changes that Lose the Nuance of Holiness in “Saints”
“saints” (Greek hagios, plural) changed to “people” or “God’s people” or “Lord’s people” or “your people” (41)
Acts 9:13, 32; 26:10; Rom. 8:27; 15:25, 26, 31; 16:2, 15; 1 Cor. 6:1, 2; 14:33; 16:15; 2 Cor. 8:4; 9:1; 13:13; Eph. 1:15, 18; 2;19; 3:18; 6:18; Phil. 4:21, 22; Col. 1:4, 12, 26; 1 Tim. 5:10; Philem. 1:5, 7; Jude 1:3; Rev. 5:8; 8:3, 4; 11:18; 13:7, 10; 16:6; 17:6; 18:20, 24; 19:8
H. Other Gender Related Changes
Other gender related changes (7)
Acts 12:13 ("girl" dropped); 19:24 ("craftsmen" to "workers"), 25 ("workmen" to "workers"), 38 ("craftsmen" to "associates"); 1 Cor. 7:29 ("wives" to “are married”); 2 Cor. 11:13 ("workmen" to "workers"); 1 Tim. 2:12 (“have authority” to “assume authority”)
Other examples of unnecessary removal of masculine references to God or Christ (5)
John 1:33 (the one who); 6:33 (that which; margin: he who); 10:2 (the one); Heb. 2:6 (the "son of man," apparent Messianic prophecy or theme that the author of Hebrews sees fulfilled in Christ, from Ps. 8:4, changed to "human beings"