This can be seen plainly enough in any given chapter. The press release also says that the NLT is an 'entirely new translation,' but an examination of the version shows that it inherits many renderings of the Living Bible which would probably not have been used by the NLT reviewers if they started from scratch. This leaves us with the impression that the 'reviewers' did not meet to discuss the revision and vote on changes, as the press release quoted above says, but merely sent suggestions to the editors. We ranked these in terms of priority, sent them to the general editor over our part of the Bible, who synthesized a selection of them, interacted with a Tyndale House stylist, and sent a draft back to us for us to repeat the process.

Then individuals books of the Bible (or small collections of books) were parceled out to three experts (I worked on Matthew), who compiled long lists of suggestions for revising Ken TaylorвЂ™s original Living Bible Paraphrased. With the New Living Translation, the Bible was divided into sixths, with a scholar appointed general editor over each large chunk. Because of the extensive efforts of world-class Bible scholars, the New Living Translation is the most expensive translation project in the history of Bible translation.ДЄnother of the reviewers, Craig Blomberg, has described the procedure very differently: In 1994, the translators gathered again to make the revisions determined by the reviewers. Each work of translation went through the channels of critique by the individual, a book committee, a general reviewer committee, and back to the individual. The scholars would debate their opinions, informally vote on the best wording, and the editorial board would decide the final translation. Every book of the New Living Translation was reviewed by three or four people, then rated in the areas of accuracy and clarity. Bergen and the other translators worked independently to correct the Living Bible or produce new translations, then worked together to produce a joint translation. The purpose of the New Living Translation (NLT) was to make a translation that is accurate with the original languages, yet lively and dynamic. Taylor, the original author of the Living Bible, approved this decision, and plans were made for Tyndale Publishing House to print the New Living Translation. However, as the 100 scholars began to work, the decision was made to complete an entirely new translation. According to Bergen, the project began with the purpose of merely correcting parts of the Living Bible.

In 1989, ninety evangelical scholars from various theological backgrounds and denominations were commissioned to revise the Living Bible. The origin of the version is described in a press release from Hannibal-LaGrange College, where one of the version's 'reviewers,' Robert Bergen, serves on the faculty: It was designed to improve the accuracy of Taylor's paraphrase. The New Living Translation is an extensive revision of Ken Taylor's Living Bible (published by Tyndale House in 1971). Norton, ed., Holy Bible, New Living Translation. The New Living Translation - A Critical Review Bible Research > English Versions > 20th Century > New Living Translation

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