Alphabet Soup

No, I am not going to talk about higher educational degrees . I want to discuss the many English translations with all those acronyms . When a translation makes improvements , what should the acronym then be ? For some there will be no need to alter their acronyms . This is not a serious post . I will mention just 10 translations .

The Phillips is also called The New Testament In Modern English . But most refer to it as the Phillips . With my new acronym suggestion it would be the PR -- Phillips Revamped.

The NLT would retain those letters . But it would stand for the Newer Living Translation . It first came out in 1996 . It was updated in July of 2004 . Most just call the current one NLT2 . So , do you want to call the next edition NLT3 instead ?

The NRSV can keep those distinctive letters . Again , it would just mean the Newer Revised Standard Version . It came out in 1989, but there has been no update .

The NASB ( updated edition ) will retain the same lettering like the above example ( Newer ).

The ESV will be called the NESV . The New English Standard Version .

The NKJ which has not been updated since 1982 will ( according to my suggestion ) be named the LKJ --the Latest King James . ( The Late King James sounds terminal . )

The TNIV will keep those letters , but it will mean Today's Newer International Version . The TNIV should get some credit for coming up with "Today's" in the first place , not to be confused with the TEV .

The HCSB will be the HCSBU -- the Holman Christian Standard Bible Updated .

The New Berkely Version In Modern English is also known as the Modern Language Bible . I think I'll call the new one the MMLB -- The More Modern Language Bible . There is little likihood that it will be updated though . The MLB still kept thee , thou , thine etc. , so much for " Modern " .

The REB will be renamed the BSNEB -- the Brand-Spanking-New--English-Bible . It hasn't undergone an update either since it upgraded the NEB in 1989 I think . The REB will be my next translation purchase . Americans are not that familiar with it -- so this one will take the plunge .