One of the more common questions I hear is, why do modern translations have 17 fewer verses than the King James Version? Specifically, why is the NIV missing 17 verses?

The truth is that no modern translation includes these so-called missing Bible verses. And the truth is that the 17 missing verses were not dropped out; they were, in fact, added to the Greek manuscripts used by the KJV, often hundreds of years after the biblical writers wrote.

In Introductory Issues I will cover the technical aspect of Textual Criticism (but you will be able to understand it just fine), and then I will list the 17 “added” verses, and also other sentences and phrases in the KJV that are not in modern translations but don't affect verse numbers.

In the interests of full disclosure, this is Bill Mounce. I was the New Testament chair for the ESV translation for ten years, and am currently on the Committee for Bible Translation that controls the text of the NIV. I have written extensively in the area of Greek, and more recently on the reliability of the Bible.

The topic of textual criticism and many others are discussed in my upcoming book, Why I Trust the Bible (Zondervan 2021), due out in August.

Section 1—Historical Jesus

  1. Jesus before the Gospels
    • Did Jesus exist?
    • Oral tradition
  2. Jesus of the Gospels
    • Who wrote the Gospels
    • Jesus of History or Christ of Faith

Section 2—Contradictions

  1. Contradictions in the Bible
    • How the Gospels were written
    • Synoptics problem
  2. Digging deeper into apparent contradictions
    • Ancient writing standards
    • John
    • Miracles

Section 3—Canon

  1. Why do we have the 27 books in the New Testament
    • Nicea
    • Three criteria of authenticity
    • Eusebius' categories
  2. Digging deeper into the canon
    • Closed
    • Historical evidence

Section 4—Textual Criticism

  1. Are the Greek texts hopelessly corrupt?
    • Principles of textual criticism
    • Viable and meaningful
  2. Digging Deeper into textual criticism
    • Famous variants
    • King James Bible
  3. Digging Much Deeper into textual criticism
    • Variants
    • Manuscripts
    • Do the variants affect the meaning

Section 5—Translations

  1. Translation theory
    • Not codes
    • Five theories of translation
  2. Digging deeper into translations
    • "Literal"
    • Translation philosophy
    • Gender questions

Section 6 — Old Testament

  1. The character of God
    • Problem of evil
    • Flood
    • Genocide
    • Women
  2. Historicity of the Old Testament
    • Jesus' Bible
    • Hebrew canon
    • Old Testament Apocrypha
    • Contradictions

Conclusion