A while back I became aware that newer versions of the Bible seemed to be missing entire verses of scripture. The translation I had always relied on (the King James Version) seemed to have more verses than the new translations including the most popular modern translation, the NIV. I was certain Satan was afoot and immediately started researching how the most popular Christian publisher, Zondervan, could get away with this. As I dived deeper, my foundation was rocked as I learned that there was a distinct possibility that my Bible translation may have had it wrong all this time. If my Bible was wrong, how could I know if others were right? What if the entire premise of Christianity could not be counted on?
The Missing Verses In The Bible
17 Missing Verses
If you read the NIV translation of the Bible, you will find that occasionally, it seems to skip a verse number. For example, in the KJV, it states in Matthew 17:21
“Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
But if you flip to that same section of the Bible in the NIV translation, it seems to skip that verse altogether. It will show Matthew 17:20 just fine as well as it will show Matthew 17:22. But Matthew 17:21 is nowhere to be found.
As you study this, you will actually find that there are 17 verses ‘missing’ from the NIV translation. Why is that?
Why Are The Verses Missing?
Dr. Bill Mounce of Zondervan does a great job explaining why this occurs on his website, Missing Bible Verses.
The reality is that they are not missing at all. Instead, the KJV translation relied on historical manuscripts that likely had them added in the margins by priests and eventually those words made it into the actual scripture. Over time, older manuscripts were discovered and those older versions did not contain the verses or phrases in question.
At first this greatly concerned me for two primary reasons.
1) How could we ever know if we were reviewing the correct words of God if such an iconic translation like the KJV got it wrong?
2) Did this alter the words of God in any relevant or meaningful way?
One of the things I discovered about myself is that there was a reverence for the KJV translation that almost bordered on worship. The actual paper and binding was revered and held up to be almost godlike when in reality I should have focused on the actual words of God. If you take a step back and ask yourself, what is more important, knowing the words of God or the beauty and poetry of a translation, we should immediately zero in on the belief that we need to know the actual words of God above all of our presuppositions.
