This translation has been open for revision by anyone since 1998, and this is the current result. This translation will continue to stay ‘open’ with a yearly version or “update log” until that is not possible. This was a first in the translation arena.

A few million people world wide have visited the Christian Library On-Line and were able to view the Modern Literal Version and download a free copy. We can always use your input or additional proofreading. Any corrections please email to mlvbible (at) gmail (dot) com with subject line: “MLV”.

in various word processing, spreadsheet and database formats. The WP version is our offsite(s) backup which can be opened in the free Open Office Suite version 3.3 or lower, naturally.

http:www.biblesupport.com/e-sword-downloads/file/6955-modern-literal-version-nt-2012/

IF you or your congregation has a website, you can help the MLV in the search engine rankings by adding one or all of the download links above to your site. You may also add this translation with its own search module too. Any other free advertising like Facebook, Twitter, etc. is always appreciated. Thank you in advance.

• Copyright is to make sure the actual text is not changed by anyone but us and to stop some publishing company from copyrighting the MLV and then stopping free distribution.

• When quoting the Modern Literal Version the quotes are to be noted by ‘Modern Literal Version’ or ‘MLV’. Footnoting larger amounts is totally acceptable.

• If you want to publish this version into book form please contact us immediately.

• This translation may be used in any Bible commentary, study module, tract, class book, similar study materials as long as noted according to the guidelines above and the Modern Literal Version’s part does not exceed 33% of the volume of the total project. So ‘have at it.’

• After 33% you cannot ever sell the MLV! Including no handling or shipping fees! Please report any violations. ‘We want to be rich in money as well as Spirit.’ (smile)

• If you want to incorporate this version into computer form, the answer for non resale (true non profit or give away) is YES but the request must be formal (paper trail.) At any given time you sell your product, the MLV must be removed from the product.

• The HTML version and search engine can be reproduced on other web sites but requires permission (until final release). (Too many OLD copies of the MLV are around and we would like to have those fixed.)

• We are not here for profit and will entertain requests for items not listed.

The MLV is a ‘word for word’ translation of the Original Greek New Testament according to the Majority Text. It does not use paraphrasing, dynamic equivalence, free style or any other fancy wording to describe paraphrasing or other lame excuses for sloppy translation principles. Any form of paraphrasing would make the opinions of the translators your ‘Word of God.’ The goal of everyone involved with this project was to keep any form of commentary out of the translation as is humanly possible. Punctuation and capitalization are not inspired and are at a minimum. Chapter and verse numbers are retained though not inspired.

The ‘Modern Literal Version New Testament’ came about because of a young Christian’s quest to find an accurate modern-English translation from which to study. The New American Standard contradicted itself in Matthew 5:17 and Ephesians 2:15 for example. The New King James is often too paraphrased rather than literal. Almost all other modern-English translations do not claim to be literal or even word for word and most that do are really not.

Initially a revision of the 1901 American Standard Version was started. This idea was dropped with too many problems: underlining Greek text, footnotes, archaic words. A better idea grew, the creation of a modern literal version (which later became the name). A group of scholars, who believe in the total authority and inspiration of the Bible, were assembled to undertake the revision. Now, over 22 years later, at least 25 experts in the original language have contributed work to making this translation a reality. Many others, about 116, have also helped with large amounts of proofreading, English comprehension, double-checking Greek definitions, compounds, synonyms, Greek concordance look-ups, and other menial (but extremely essential) tasks. Altogether over a thousand corrections have been received via E-mail for changes, so far.

In 1987, the MLV was the first translation to use the power of the computer and would have been impossible before the computer age.

The original intentions and guidelines for the ‘Modern Literal Version’ were:

1. To translate the original languages, word for word into English. Then to further boost the accuracy of the MLV, translate the same Greek word into as few different English words as possible. The same with English words– not to use them for different Greek words.

This is why the “Modern Literal Version” is different from all other English translations.

(About 600 Bible Greek words actually have more than one meaning even after careful consideration of which English word to substitute and the context determines which meaning should be used.) No language can be treated purely like a math equation.

The New Testament is its own best commentary when you see the same Greek word translated the same throughout. Careful attention was paid to synonyms, antonyms and compound words.

The Majority Greek New Testament contains approximately 5401 different Greek words, 1877 only occur once, 589 are proper names, 1450 are compounds of two words that should be translated the same or very similarly as if the two words were not in compound or contracted form. The MLV uses about 5937 unique English words which include all cases and tenses. Less that 675 of the 5937 English words come from more than one unrelated Greek word.

3. To have, in places where a literal translation could not be understood or was an idiom used by the common Greeks, the literal Greek footnoted or put in the Appendix. For example: ‘unto the ages’ is an idiom for ‘forever’. (These are not as common as many people would have you believe).

4. To keep the number of footnotes down to about what the KJV had originally or less.

5. To use italics for supplied words and use supplied words as opposed to paraphrasing.

6. To not attempt to make the MLV a translation that is perfect everyday English, but try to make it understandable to the mass majority of English speaking people; again, as opposed to paraphrasing. Verses in the MLV may start with conjunctions like 'and' 'but' or 'for'. This was a good way to split 50+ word sentences in Greek into English. Large amounts of punctuation typical of English is not used. The original Bible only had punctuation used to distinguish between different words that are spelled the same and contractions.

7. To use ‘will’ for all future tenses. Though not Proper English, it is the way most English people speak. ‘Shall’ is retained in questions.

8. To translate some verses that have been misinterpreted for years by many religious groups, as close as possible to the original language.

9. To arrange the Greek object-subject-verb order into English, subject verb object.

10. To use 'The New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform 2005 compiled and arranged by Maurice A. Robinson and William Pierpont' (the 'Majority Text' as referred to by most.)

11. To show testament parallels by placing the Old Testament reference at the end of the verse in curly brackets ( {} ) and mark the quote with a single quotation marks ( ' ).

12. To further break down of chapters into more paragraphs. (Some chapters may require a footnote like Acts 1 & 2.)

13. To translate the Greek money system as transliterations or modern American currency and place them in the Appendix.

14. To show a Harmony of the New Testament by showing AD dates and when epistles were written and show the locations in the Book of Acts so that a person can read the entire New Testament in chronological order. (Start at Mark, then go to Acts.)

15. Many of the 1st person active tense verbs were translated ‘is VERB-ing’ to help show action. Many people wrongly say the ‘-eth’ ending used in older translations meant continual action. It was simply the way they spoke in the 1500's to the 1800's.

16. To use the more proper ‘may’ or ‘might’ for the subjunctive mood. The ASV used ‘should’ and ‘shall.’ Shall is not consider ‘conditional’ in Modern English but equal to the future tense ‘will.’

The 1987-1999 version, roughly 95% completed, was formally U.S. copyrighted and placed into the ‘Christian Library’ in June, 1999 at http://www.ChristianLibrary.org.

This translation leaves present tense unchanged. The Greeks wrote in present tense to give the reader the feeling of ‘being there.’

* (asterisk) are used for universal footnoting of words listed here in the Appendix. These are the very few words in Greek that have an expanded thought more than what the English rendering has.

Red Lettering is used for the words of Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit even in an indirect quote as in Acts 26, 1Tim 4. If you do not believe the RED should be used in a certain area, please ignore. (A BOLD letter version is available for printing purposes on laser printers.)

Italicized words are the words added by the translators. They do not have a Greek counterpart. The articles ‘a’ ‘an’ are always supplied though never marked. These italicized words are used to help make very literal phrases or sentences more readable, as opposed to paraphrasing the Greek.

Paragraphs are used in this translation with no credence given to chapter or verse numbers. (Verse format or other special formatting takes ideas out of context too often.) Double spaced paragraphs are an attempt to arrange by subject. Single spaced paragraphs are for conversations or for sub topics. We did not put in ‘subject headings’ these would then be our opinions not your ‘Word of God.’

Quotes “ ” are not used in this translation because Greek never had them or a way to know for sure where they should be in English.

- (Hyphen) often represents two English words which were only one Greek word. It is used more for the translators or the in depth studiers and for reference later to the Greek Lexicon & English Concordance. Please ignore these.

The curly brackets ( {} ) contains words not in the Bible, such as the reference to the Old Testament, ‘footnotes,’ and the ‘Harmony of the New Testament’, see below.

The Old Testament reference may be an exact quote or a paraphrase by the inspired writer or simply the location of the historical event. Single quotes ‘ ’ are used at the beginning and end of actual quotes or paraphrases of such. We did not try to translate the Greek in these O.T. quotes to match the Hebrew to English translations.

Footnotes ( {F} ) appear at the end of the chapter. The footnote appears in curly brackets with verse numbers given.

Participles - The Greek is ‘participle crazy’ and are extremely common. Many sentences in Greek have no main verb just participle after participle. We have attempted to render more participles as such verses chopping sentences into pretty little English sentences. (Literal vs. paraphrase.)

This translation does not adhere to traditions or theological discussions. John 3:16 is a good example of ‘pure’ translation principles in the MLV.

Harmony of the Gospels and New Testament is a man-made study help and combines information from the four books of Jesus’ life here on the earth. (The Bible was not written in Encyclopedia format. Not all information on any subject is generally all inclusive in any one area.) Here is an example of the ‘Great Commission’ or better ‘How to Make or Become a Disciple of Christ’ and the way it is represented in the ‘Modern Literal Version’ throughout Mark.

Here is a combination of the above passages as an example, Mark is black, Matthew is navy, Luke is green (the punctuation has either been added or changed to attempt to make it easier to read in English).

And he said to them, As you^* are going (You^* go) into all the world and preach the gospel (thus it has been written, that the Christ must suffer and rise up from the dead the third day), should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem to the whole creation, make disciples of all the nations.

He who believes and is immersed, (immersing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and that repentance and forgiveness of sins) will be saved; teaching them to observe all things whatever I commanded you^*.

Acts of is supplied to Greek Plurals that have no English Plural. Example literal ‘discernings’ would be translated ‘acts of discerning’ in the MLV. ‘Acts’ does not in anyway mean ‘acting.’

Angel is a transliterated word, in simple terms– not translated. The English equivalent would be ‘messenger.’ Only context can determine if the messenger was from God or man or the Devil.

Apostle is a transliterated word. The English equivalent would be ‘one sent’ with the meaning of ‘one sent on a mission.’

Believe in verb, adjective or noun forms are one of those very few Greek words which carry more meaning than the simple ‘believe’ translation. These words carry also the meaning: ‘obey’, ‘had been persuaded’. The antonym of ‘believe’ is ‘disobey’ in the Greek language. See John 3:36 in this translation for both words together.

Believe on literally in the majority of all places in the New Testament means ‘believe upon’.

Believe in literally in the majority of all places in the New Testament means ‘believe into’. Similar expression to Mat 28:19 ‘... into the name... ‘.

Belt is impossible to tell from context if it is a simple belt or a complex series of leather straps used to hold tools, weapons, money, and even protect the body like minor armor. The girdle (belt) was worn across the waist or across the chest.

Bowels are where the Greeks thought the emotions were born; like our ‘heart, gut feeling, nervous stomach.’

Brethren is specifically ‘brothers’ but used more often to describe kinfolk, whether by blood or by the blood of Jesus. Though translated from a Greek masculine noun, the word includes males and females in context.

Charity in the MLV does not mean ‘money.’ It may include money but literally means ‘good, merciful or kind acts.’

Christ is a transliterated Greek adjective that would translate as ‘anointed.’ Messiah is the translation into Hebrew.

Congregation was the original translation by Tyndale in the first English translation done from the Greek and then later changed to 'church' by the Catholics and perpetuated by the Church of England in the King James and American Standard Versions. The word could be translated 'assembly' also as did Robert Young, and a few have done such. The original Greek word, even in the Bible, carries no special reverence! It is used to describe Jews, a mob, a local congregation, and the congregation of believers worldwide in Matthew 16:18. Using ‘called out’ would be like saying a ‘pineapple’ is an ‘apple produced by a pine tree.’ The word was in use in all Greek writings which meant some form of ‘leaving your home to assemble elsewhere, generally in public for town announcements.’

Consequently though an adverb in English is used for a Greek particle that is not exactly ‘therefore’ in English. It means that the previous statement is probably so or will become so.

Containers are used with the volume they contain, as a way in the MLV to translate various Greek words as opposed to footnoting and transliterating them. Example ‘Cor’ from a Hebrew word was translated as ‘93 gallon container.’ (Many disagree about the exact sizes of these measurements. We don’t see that makes a real difference to your salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.)

Covenant^* can be translated as ‘Agreement,’ ‘Contract,’ ‘Testament’ or ‘Will’ as in ‘Last Will & Testament’. The underlying Greek word (diatheke and its compounds) was translated uniformly as ‘covenant’ because ‘testament’ has no verb forms in English. It is the Old or New Testament or Old or New Covenant, or just a simple agreement, depending on the context. The Old Testament Law was until the death of Jesus and the New Testament Law is after his death, see Hebrews 9-10 and Galatians 4:4. Actually the entire Hebrew Letter is dealing with why Christians are no longer bound by the laws or traditions of the Old Testament. (Two were reinstated in the New Testament; Mt. 22:37-39.) By rights, the first four books and the first chapter of Acts, as it is commonly called today, are really part of the Old Covenant with God.

Cubit is a forearm’s length. About 20-21 inches depending of which cubit measurement was common to that area.

• Denarius is money equivalent to a day's wage of the normal working class. It was a silver coin with Caesar's face on it.

• Lepton is a bronze coin, translated as ‘bronze coin.’ Two of these is equal to an Assarion or Quadran which are copper coins worth the cost of a dove or 2 sparrows, about a couple of mouthfuls of food. Assarion and Quadran are translated as ‘copper coin’. About 50 cents in US money.

• Mina which is translated as ‘200 denarius coin(s)’ is a about 80% of a year's salary in modern terms. In context probably meant a whole years wage.

• Slater: a coin equal to 2 drachma or 4 denarius, translated as ‘four-denarius coin.’

• Talant is about 58-80 pounds of silver. Equal to about 1 million dollars in US money today. Has nothing to do with ability, as the KJV and others used a terrible choice ‘talent’ for the transliteration of the Greek word.

Devil is a word which is an adjective used as a noun ‘a slanderer.’ Plural form is translated as ‘slanderers.’

Different as it occurs 6 times in the MLV is from the Greek word heteros (Strong’s 2087) which is translated as ‘other’ or ‘another.’ In context might mean something added vs. something different or opposite.

Enmity has lost some of its meaning in current English usage. Enmity is best described as a blend of hatred, opposition, and be an enemy.

Fallen-asleep is from the Greek word koimao which is used as an expression to mean death.

^*for represents the Greek preposition ‘eis’ that is literally translated as ‘into’, ‘to’ or ‘toward’. It never means ‘because of.’ Sometimes to substitute ‘leading toward’ works very well to get the meaning across and has been used by many translations in some places. This preposition expresses forward action in the Greek verb where the English word ‘for’ can be used with verbs of actions past or future. All Greek words in the ‘Modern Literal Version’ that mean 'because' are translated as 'because'. (SEE the exception below.)

for^* represents the Greek word ‘gar.’ It is a conjunction with no exact English equivalent. It is a mild form of ‘because.’ (See more below.)

For has no true Greek equivalent. ‘To’ is the literal translation in all places in the ‘Modern Literal Version’ excluding the above examples for prepositions. (Also, ‘in/on behalf of’ and ‘because’ Greek word equivalents are translated as such.) To best describe ‘for^*,’ the conjunction, is ‘We put people in jail for^* murder.’ To best describe ‘^*for’ the preposition, is ‘We put people in jail to murder.’)

Fornication is from the Greek word ‘pornia’ which means any premarital or extramarital sexual acts between two or more people. Does not mean in any way ‘lust.’ It means physical sex, including all variations of physical sex. People who have claimed scriptural divorce using Matthew 5:28 need to read the rest of the Bible! Translating this Greek word as ‘sexual immorality’ is an abomination!

Furlong is 1/8 of a mile in English. But in the MLV it is a ‘Stadium’ which is 1/8 of a Roman mile 607 ft. (53 ft. less than an actual furlong).

Gentiles in Greek is also ‘nations.’ The word means all nations which are not Israel or all people who are not Jews.

Gird means to put on your belt, the final act of dressing yourself for the public or for a job. See Belt too.

Gospel literally means ‘good news’. It is also used to mean Jesus and His teaching in general. (1Cor. 15:1-4; 2Thes. 1:8, etc.). The Greek word is translated as ‘good news’ in other contexts.

Harlot is a sexually promiscuous individual or a prostitute or both, primarily female. Context is not always certain which meaning should be used. (A vulgar English word does fit perfectly.)

Heart* is literally the intestines. The Greeks thought emotions were born there, like we often feel emotions in our gut.

Hosanna is a Hebrew word meaning ‘Save me, I pray.’ or ‘Please deliver me.’

Immerse^* or ‘dipping’ is a translation of the Greek verb ‘baptizo’ and its variations which all mean to submerge completely. Baptize, a transliterated word (in other words, not translated), has been retained by most translations due to denominational influences. Baptism is NOT used in the ‘Modern Literal Version.’ In 1999 until baptism was changed to immersion in about 2002 over 75% of the comments for revision of the Modern Literal Version from readers or visitors to the Christian Library were ‘make baptism immersion.’ This word has a perfect English equivalent and so has been used. For a Bible definition read Romans 6:1-6. The Greek word was common to the Greeks and was used to describe a ‘bath,’ ‘washing dishes,’ ‘ceremonial washing’ and ‘Christian baptism.’ See Footnoting in Mark 7; other Bible passages Romans 6, Mark 16:16, Colossians 2:12-14, etc. This word never meant ‘shower’. There is a Greek word for ‘sprinkling’ and it is used in the New Testament also.

Iota (subscript) and tittle are the smallest punctuation marks of Greek and Hebrew.

Irreproachable can be simply a person not under an accusation by an enemy or legal system. But more likely a person with an extremely good reputation. If someone was to say, “He is a thief.” The reaction would be “No he is not” and the conversation would be over.

Jude and Judas are both from the same Greek word. Judas is retained except in the title of the Book of Jude. Judas the Apostle (son of James) could be the same as Judas, Jesus' half brother, the brother of James, the writer of the Book of Jude but probably not.

Keep in the MLV is one of those very few Greek words which carry more meanings than the simple ‘keep’ translation. The word carries with it: to guard and/or watch over.

Love^* is the all giving, all loving love, a sacrificial love. This word in religious writings had an intensified meaning from the same Greek spoken outside of the Bible. The Greeks had different words for different kinds of love, unlike English. This word is ‘agapaw’ ‘agapao’ in Greek.

Minister^*, Ministry^*, are synonyms of the other Greek words rendered minister, ministry, etc. These and their various verb, adjective and noun forms are more of a public servant, public service or serving publicly. Romans 13:6 is a good example.

Offend and Offense literally means to ‘snare’, 'caused to stumble' or a 'cause of stumbling.'

Only begotten which literally means ‘only born of’ or ‘only born by’ would be a contradiction in the Bible since ‘we are all sons of God through Christ Jesus’ and Mary gave birth to multiple children. Its Greek synonym is ‘firstborn’ which too is a contradiction since Abraham had two sons and the ‘only born of’ was the second son. Others have used ‘one and only,’ ‘only,’ ‘only born.’ All of these are contradictions also. One other translation used ‘only unique,’ but this removes the ‘born’ part. The way to think of this is that the physical ‘firstborn’ had special rights or privileges. ‘Only special born’ would then settle all instances in the New Testament and would still fit the Greek. It is the figurative ‘firstborn’ in respect to special privileges or rights.

Pentecost is a transliterated word which literal means ‘50th’ as in the 50th day after Passover.

Rejected^* is better thought of as ‘they tested it, didn’t like it and then rejected it.’

Quarternions are companies of four soldiers and is translated as companies of four in Acts 12:11.

Satan a transliterated word, translation would be ‘adversary’ or ‘enemy.’

Serve^* is the verb form of bond-slave, best described as to serve in or under bondage, could be either voluntarily or not. Moses was a bond-slave (how he gained his wife).

Spirit is retained in capitalized form from the ASV. If you as the reader believe Spirit is not the Holy Spirit just ignore the capital ‘S.’ If fact all capitalization is man made, please ignore any you feel is wrong. ‘The Spirit of the truth” as it occurs in the Greek 3 times in John 14-16 & maybe once in 1 John 4 could be a title, “Spirit of Truth.”

Standard as in a yardstick in U.S. terms. A round straight piece of wood or metal used as a standard of measure to measure the length or distance of something. It is used figuratively in most New Testament instances.

Stewardship means to manage the house or household or to manage the affairs of others.

Than though marked as supplied, is most often a translation of a genitive Greek word when next to a comparative or superlative adjective or adverb; a Greek idiom. Example ‘he is greater of me’ would be ‘he is greater than I.’

That^* in Greek is ‘hina’ which literally means ‘in order that’ but is just too wordy for some English sentences.

The, the definite article occurs in Greek same as English with one major exception, ‘the’ is used with proper nouns. ‘Jesus’ is ‘the Jesus.’ We have tried to include all definite articles other than those with proper nouns. Many would say they should be dropped in some places but our opinion in this matter is if the inspired writers included ‘the’ then we should put it there in English whenever possible. The inspired writers could have left ‘the’ out in most of these questionable places and it still would have been ‘good Greek grammar’, especially in Paul’s & Luke’s writings who were fluent speaking Greeks.

Truly^* literally is ‘amen’ which basically means “so be it.” But Jesus said the amen to what he was saying beforehand.

Vehemently is an intensified verb of the Greek word ‘ekperissos’ translated as ‘exceedingly’. There really is no English better than ‘exceedingly.’ This word is what the 149 scholars of the KJV & ASV chose to use so we just kept it, having no option, in the actual 5 places it occurs in the Majority Text.

World^* means primarily the Roman Empire, in there way of thinking ‘the inhabited earth,’ can be difficult to tell even from the context how far the ‘world^* ’ extends.

You^* represents the Greek word or word form that means plural ‘you’ in English.

Your^* represents the Greek word or word form that means plural ‘your’ in English.

Wormwood is a person or thing and an actual substance which is bitter tasting. We translated it, let the Bible students figure it out.

We do have many translations available in book form and/or computer format. But how many can you buy that were NOT made for profit, especially in book form?

Computers and the Internet has allowed many translations to appear that are really nothing more that someone proofreading a currently old translation fixing almost nothing and re-releasing it in modernized English. They are not truly new at all!

Two distinct and opposite techniques are used in translating the New Testament of the Bible. Paraphrasing the Greek into English is today’s most common. (They read like the newspaper and contain less wording than the second type.) Almost all Bible translations in the past 30 years are this type. With any form of paraphrasing, someone's opinion becomes your Word of God! The second is literal or ‘word for word,’ where one Greek word translates into one English word or words, arranged into English syntax. This is the ‘Modern Literal Version.’

The second phrase of the ‘Modern Literal Version’ was to increase the accuracy of Greek word translations by translating the same Greek word as the same English word or words, therefore making the MLV even more accurate to the original language. No Greek Interlinear and less than 3 translations have ever attempted to translate Greek words uniformly and consistently into English. None have tried to do the same with the English wording and not use the same English word for multiple Greek words except the Modern Literal Version. This task would have been about impossible before the computer age. For example, on a computer, it takes 2 seconds to display every verse that contains the word ‘bond-slave’ in the MLV. (http://www.ChristianLibrary.org/bs)

Let's face it, this ‘uniform and consistent translating’ is an extremely hard task, not one that many translators would ever take the time to do even now that it is possible with computers. Probably the worst word in the Greek New Testament, ginomai, Strong's number 1096, is about 42 different English words in the King James Version & New American Standard, in the American Standard about 15 and in the MLV it is translated into 7 different English words. This is only one of a thousand words translated more accurately in the Modern Literal Version. As literal as the King James Version was, Jay P. Green Sr. in his revision of the Englishman’s Concordance showed the English word ‘will’ (not future tense) was used for 69 different Greek words.

Prepositions in all translations are extremely inconsistent. An example is the word ‘for,’ that comes from Greek words that means ‘in behalf of,’ ‘because of,’ ‘because,’ ‘to,’ ‘ toward,’ ‘of’ and a mild form of ‘because.’ The MLV translated all ‘because’ and ‘because of’ just that and used ‘in behalf of.’ The other meanings are shown by use of asterisks ^* with the 2 most common Greek words translated as ‘for’.

Very few translations in existence use the Majority Text (‘The New Testament in the Original Greek Byzantine Textform 2005 Compiled and Arranged by Maurice A. Robinson and William Pierpont’). It is a composite of the most used words or wording of all Greek manuscripts not just the 2 older manuscripts as represented by all the minority texts (W&H, UBS, NA2x, etc.) or the trend now to use only one, P46 primarily and supplement the other 2. These two texts disagree with each other 30,000 times and neither are complete Matthew to Revelation. That is not the God we worship! Almost all modern paraphrase translations use this Minority text so the reader could lose almost 20% of the Word of God between the text and paraphrasing. Some translations use the Textus Receptus (KJV, NKJV, KJVII, YLT, etc), most generally carry ‘King James’ in the title.

Most modern translations are made up of committees that oversee only some books of the Bible, not the New Testament as a whole. So naturally one committee might translate verb tenses or words differently than another committee does. ‘The Modern Literal Version’ did not do this for the most part.

A challenge to all who think that another translation is more accurate to the original Greek then the MLV: show us the correction needed! Please remember ‘thus saith the Greek’ not 'my version says.' This translation needs to be judged by the Greek, not anything else! This translation has been open for revision to all for over 14 years.

'The New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform 2005 compiled and arranged by Maurice A. Robinson and William Pierpont' does have some words in question originally enclosed by brackets. A very few of them may have been left out. See http://www.christianlibrary.org/bibles/MLV/maj2005.zip

The following words should be added to your current word processor’s custom dictionary to keep the spell checker happy and no more red lines on the screen.

Abaddon Abiathar Abijah Abiud Achaicus Achim Addi Adramyttium Aenon Agabus Ahaz Akeldama Alphaeus Amminadab Amon Amphipolis Amplias Annas Antipatris Apollonia Apollos Apollyon Apphia Appius Archelaus Archippus Areopagite Areopagus Aretas Arimathaea Aristobulus Arphaxad Artemas Asa Asiarchs Assos Asyncritus Attalia Azor Azotus agapao agapaw assarion Balaam Balak Barachiah Barsabbas Bartimaeus BC Beor Bethphage Bithyna Blastus Boanerges baptizo Cainan Cananaean Carpus Cenchreae Cephas Chorazin Christs Chuza Clauda Cleopas Clopas Colosse Cor Corban Cosam Crescens Crispus Da Dalmanutha Damaris Derbe diatheke Didymus diakonos Diotrephes Dorcas Eber ekperissos Elamites Eleazar Eliakim Eliezer Eliud Elmadam Eloi Elymas Enos Epaenetus Epaphras Epaphroditus Ephesian Ephphatha Er Esli Ethnarch Eubulus Euodia Euroclydon Eutychus Exod eis Fortunatus Gabbatha Gadarenes Gallio Gamaliel Gennesaret Gerasenes Gergesa Gergesenes ginomai Hamor Har-Magedon Heli Hermas Hermogenes Herodians Herodion Hezron heteros Hort Hymenaeus hina Iconium Idumaea Immerser Irenaeus ISCnetwork.com Jairus Jambres Jannai Jannes Jechoniah Jephthah Jn Joanan Joda Jonam Joram Jorim Joses Jotham Junias Kidron Korah kumi Kyria Lamech Laodiceans Lasea Lebbaeus Levitical Linus Lk Lucius Lycaonia Lycaonian Lydda Lysanias Lysias Lystra Maath Magadan Magog Mahalaleel Malchus Manaen Mattatha Mattathias Matthan Matthat Melchi Melea Menna Mic Midian Mitylene Mnason Moreh Mysia Naaman Naggai Nahor Nahshon Neapolis Nereus Neri Nicanor Nicolaitans Nicolaus Nicopolis Ninevites Nymphas Obed Olympas Onesimus Onesiphorus overseership Pamphylia Paphos Parmenas Parthians Patara Patrobas Paulus Peleg Peraea Perga Pergamus Persis Phanuel Philetus Philologus Phlegon Phygelus Pisidia Porcius Prisca Prochorus Prov Ptolemais Publius Pudens Puteoli proclaimer Quarternion Quartus Quirinius quadran quarternions Rabboni Rahab Receptus Rehoboam Remphan Reu Rhegium Rhesa Sadoc Salim Salmone Samarians Sapphira Sceva Secundus Semein Sergius Serug Shealtiel Shechem Shelah Sopater Register Sosipater Sosthenes Stachys Stephanas Sychar Symeon Syntyche Syrophoenician Syrtis sabachthani sebastos sower Talitha Terah Tertius Tertullus Textform Textus Thaddaeus Theophilus Theudas Tiberias Timaeus Timon Trachonitis Trogyllium Trophimus Tryphaena Tryphosa Tychicus Tyrannus Tyre talant talant's talants tittle Urbanus Uzziah unburdensome uncircumcision uncondemned uncorruptness undescribable unestablished unforbidden unmeasurable unprofitableness unregrettable unrepenting unshrunk unwillfully unwitnessed YLT Zacchaeus Zarephath Zebulun Zenas Zerah Zerubbabel

These are words that you will need to allow your word processor to correct (may also be others):

allegorized apostatize armor counseled dishonor dishonored flavorless honor judgment labor longsuffering neighbor offense recognize traveling worshiping

This translation is so faithful to the original language in English that it could be used as a medium from which to translate a foreign language New Testament. Many languages of the world have no translation available and many have extremely poor ones.

The Modern Literal Version has been used by missionaries who do not know Greek as a basis for a Bible translation into a foreign language in which there is currently no native tongue translation available. Even though this results in a paraphrase, it is still better, more accurate and a faster way to deliver the Word of God to someone than trying to teach English. In the future we hope that Christians from that country would create their own translation from the original Majority Text Greek.

We can supply you with a list of all the English words which occur in the Modern Literal Version. You type the equivalent ‘native’ word next to them. We can then computer generate your ‘native tongue’ translation. You will still need to rearrange English word order (subject verb object) to the native tongue sentence structure.

All that is asked is that you make sure the reader knows this is a translation from the English Modern Literal Version to ‘Native Tongue’ not directly from the original Greek language.

In the first century, the entire known world was under Roman rule and the universal language was Koine Greek (common Greek). The language became dead two centuries later (nevermore to change). Even though many have tried to make the Greek language ‘change’ with new theologies, only translation principles have changed.

The New Testament makes mention of three different Judea rulers under Greek authority named Herod. Herod the Great reigned from 39 BC to 4 BC. He expanded the Temple to include the royal family’s wing. His son Herod Archelaus from 4 BC to 6 CE. Augustus judged him incompetent and reorganized the territories under the other son, Herod Antipas from 4 BC to 39 CE.

Guards, Sentries, etc. - If a guard lost his prisoner(s) his life was forfeited in exchange (and not a quick death) that is why many guards committed suicide. (Various places in Acts.)

When you were called back to Rome, you were given the ‘suicide’ option or to be killed.

Part of a day to the Jews, meant a whole day and night. In modern terms the Bible contradicts itself in Jesus saying he will be buried three days and three nights (Mt 12:40) but not by Jewish thinking or custom. Jesus was buried Friday (Day of Preparation; Day 1). He was in the tomb from 6:00 PM Friday to 6:00 PM Saturday (The Sabbath; Day 2). He arose sometime around dawn Sunday (the first day of the week; Day 3).

Women and Bond-slaves under Roman rule had the same rights in court. A widow or single woman without close male family was an easy target by just about anyone who wanted to take advantage of her (James 1:27). Lydia and her group was probably like a ‘gang’ to stay safe.

(2 months, 20 minutes a day. Empty your mind, don’t try and understand everything; just read the New Testament like a child would. This is arranged for better understanding by letting books build on each other. Best to not go faster; allow it to sink in for a day.)

Use Sundays to catch up on days you could not spend 20 minutes with the Word of God. Never read the Old Testament & New Testament together, two totally different sets of God’s laws one for Christians, one for Jews. If you have never read the Bible, always start with the New Testament. The New Testament is what you will be judge by not the Old Testament.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Preface & other non Bible items.	Mark 1-3	Mark 4-7	Mark 8-11	Mark 12-14	Mark 15- Matthew 4
Matthew 5-8	Matthew 9-12	Matthew 13-16	Matthew 17-21	Matthew 22-25	Matthew 26-28
John 1-4	John 5-7	John 8-11	John 12-16	John 17-21	Luke 1-3
Luke 4-7	Luke 8-10	Luke 11-14	Luke 15-18	Luke 19-21	Luke 22-24
Acts 1-4	Acts 5-8	Acts 9-12	Acts 13-16	Acts 17-20	Acts 21-24
Acts 25-28	Galatians 1-6	Romans 1-6	Romans 7-12	Romans 13- 1Corinthians 4	1Corinthians 5-10
1Corinthians 11-16	2Corinthians 1-8	2Corinthians 9- Ephesians 3	Ephesians 4- Philippians 4	Colossians 1- 1Thes. 4	1Thes 5- 1Timothy 4
1Timothy 5- Titus 3	Philemon - Hebrews 7	Hebrews 8-12	Hebrew 13-James 5	1Peter 1- 2Peter 3	1John 1-Jude
Revelation 1-6	Revelation 7-14	Revelation 14-19	Revelation 20-22

A quick overview of the 3 major philosophies dealing with the underlying text which becomes your Bible translation, described in not fancy wording but a simple example.

For this discussion we are going to forget that the manuscripts do have age problems like unreadable faded areas, tears and rips, corners or other small pieces missing and forget about spelling differences (Webster was not born yet.) They were written on processed leaves and animal skin.

Take out one ream of paper (500 sheets) and take 5 sheets out. Rip off the bottom of 3 sheets, and ½ of the other. Take one sheet and poke holes in it. Take out about 100 sheets. Take the 395 sheets and take a chain saw to them 2 or 3 times and pick up about 300 random pieces, the smallest but never over 1/4 sized. Put those with the 5 sheets. (This is Stack #1; 305 fragments.)

Take the largest pieces of the shredded paper about 500 and place in the case for the missing ream of paper. (the case is now Stack #2; 4500 good, 500 fragments)

Stack 1 is the Alexandrian Manuscripts and Uncial Manuscripts. These are what make up all of the minority textual criticisms (Alford, Tregelles, Tischendorf, Westcott & Hort, USB, NA2x, CCT, etc.) Basically 5 partial manuscripts and lots of chunks. (The almost whole manuscript is not used because it is far worst than the two main ones used, Vaticanus & Sinaiticus. In recent times P46 is actually given more weight, a less that 1/3 manuscript of only New Testament books.)

Stack 2 is the Byzantine Manuscripts and 99% of all of the wording contained in each piece of paper in the case is the Majority Text (The New Testament in the Original Greek Byzantine Textform 2005 Compiled and Arranged by Maurice Robinson and William Pierpont)

Stack 3 is the extra verses or phrases added into the Textus Receptus that are not found in 98% of the pieces of paper in Stack 2. (The commentaries at the end of the Bible books, some verses and partial verses like Luke 17:36, Acts 8:37, 15:34, 24:7, 1 John 5:7b-8 etc. One really bad doctrinal mistake is the "again" in Rev. 20:5 that should be marked out in any translation based off of the T.R. It has no Greek counterpart anywhere. 1Jn 5:7b-8 too; is from the Catholic Latin Bible.)

To get an idea of comparison, Stack 2 is the Majority Text and Stack 3 are the extra verses or phrases added in to make up the Textus Receptus.

If you believe in a little God, use Stack 1 for your Bible. If you believe in an all mighty God, use Stack 2.

I think you can see why the translators of “The Modern Literal Version” used the Majority Text. We do not feel that the Majority Text is perfect but all other forms of textual criticism has not produced anything worth considering.

In order to highlight some of the issues we have found with translation accuracy in various bibles, we have compiled a chart that compares the amount of English words translated from the Greek words. We have picked some of Strong's numbers randomly between 1 & 5624, (using a number generator), and added the worst Greek verb we know (1096). We hope this will illustrate our faithfulness to our own guidelines in making the MLV as literal as possible:

Specifically, we compare the MLV to the KJV and the NASB. This is simply because they are the only bibles that have an easily accessible English to Greek Lexicon and a Greek to English concordance that we need to compile this chart, not because they are "the most" inaccurate. We are in the process of making a similar concordance for the MLV (God willing.)

Modern bibles claim to be accurate, but most do not even italicize, or otherwise highlight, supplied words, (words that are not in the Greek, but are implied by context). The reader should be able to decide for him or herself, whether or not to include the words of man in the Word of God. The reader is unable to do this in any so-called "accurate" bible translation that does not highlight supplied words.

We believe that the translators should translate the Greek into English as literally as possible (within the scope of readability) and should not commentate, that is, insert the translator's opinion on what the verse means. For example,

For^* God so loved^* the world, that he gave his Son, the only begotten, in order that everyone who is believing in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. (MLV)

"For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (Holman Christian Study Bible)

The translators of the HCSB made a conditional statement into a 'proof positive' statement by a simple verb tense change and they are not the only ones to have done this (NASB, NIV, etc.).

To keep the chart below simple, only one of the main base words have been kept; not the various tenses or plurals or leading verbs. (For example, BE for all of the: be, is, was, were, and being.)

Strong	Part of Speech	Modern Literal Version 2012 (MLV):	King James Version (KJV):	New American Standard (NASB):
1096	Verb	become, happen, come, born, be, do, have. (7)	arise, assembled, become, befall, behave, brought, come to pass, continue, divided, draw, ended, fall, finished, follow, found, fulfilled, God forbid, grow, happen, have, kept, made, married, ordained to be, partake, pass, performed, published, require, seem, showed, soon as it was, sound, taken, turned, use, wax, will, would, wrought. (40)	accomplished, appeared, arise, arrived, become, be, brought, been done, been made, been...came, began, behaved, come into being, carried, born, breaking^, came, came to pass, comes to pass, dawn, decided^, developing, done, drawing, during, elapsed, existed^, falling, feeling, fell, finished, followed, formed, found, get, give, granted, grown^, had, happen, join^, made, occur, performed, prove, put, reached, realized, results, show, spent, split, spoken, starting, take place, taken, thundered^, took place, turns, would. (60)
2932	Verb	procure. (1)	possess, purchase, provide, obtain. (4)	acquire, gain, get, obtain, possess. (4)
69	Verb	watch. (1)	watch. (1)	alert, keep on the alert, keep watch. (4)
2872	Verb	fatigued, labor. (2)	(bestow) labour, toil, be wearied. (3)	diligently labor, grown weary, hard-working, labor, toil, weary, work hard, workers. (8)
3225		NA (not in Strong's System)
1803	Noun	NA (a number)
3701	Noun	vision. (1)	vision. (1)	vision. (1)
618	Verb	taken away from, receive again, receive. (3)	receive, take. (2)	receive, receive back, took...aside. (3)
3703		NA (only occurs once in N.T.)
1313	Adjective	different, excellent. (2)	differing, divers, more excellent. (3)	differ, more excellent, various. (3)
Our random number kept coming up with Greek words with only 1 or 2 occurrences, so had to change a little to only adopt words with 10 or more occurrences in the New Testament, which turned out to be a lot harder than you would think.
321	Verb	bring up, NAUTICAL: set sail. (2)	bring (again, forth, up again), depart, launch (forth), lead (up), loose, offer, sail, set forth, take up.(14?)	bring, launched, led, put out to sea, putting out to sea, set sail, setting sail. (7)
4815	Verb	take, conceive, help. (3)	catch, conceive, help, take. (4)	arrest, became pregnant, conceive, help, seized, taken. (6)
1448	Verb	draw near. (2)
1223	Preposition	by, through, +3956: always, +5101: why, because of. (5)	after, always, among, at, to avoid, because of, briefly, by, for (cause)... Fore, from, in, by occasion of, of, by reason of, for sake, that, thereby, therefore, though, throughout, to, wherefore, with, within. (24)	account, after, afterward, always^, because, between^, briefly^, charge^, constantly, continually^, during, forever^, gives, means, over, presence, reason, sake, sakes, since, so then^, so^, therefore^, this reason^, this^, though, through, through the agency, through^, view, way, what, why, why^*. (33)
314	Verb	read. (1)	read. (1)	read, reader. (2)
1247	Verb	minister, serve. (2)	administer, minister, serve, use the office of a deacon. (4)	administered, administration, cared, contributing...support, do...the serving, employ...in serving, minister, ministered, ministering, servant, serve, serve as deacons, served, served as deacons, serves, services...rendered, serving, take care, wait. (19)
5319	Verb	make manifest, manifest. (2)	appear, manifestly declare, make manifest, manifest, manifest forth, shew (self). (6)	appear, become visible, disclose, displayed, made...evident, made known, made manifest, make...clear, manifest, revealed, show. (11)
3586	Noun	wood, wood stocks, staffs, tree. (4)	staff, stocks, tree, wood. (4)	clubs, cross, stocks, tree, wood. (5)
1256	Verb	reason, reason with. (2)	dispute, preach, preach unto, reason, reason with, speak. (6)	addressed, argued, carrying on a discussion, discussed, discussing, reasoned, reasoning, talking. (8)
4762	Verb	turn. (1)	convert, turn again, turn back, turn again, turn self, turn self about. (6)	converted, returned, turn, turned away, turned back, turning. (6)
1994 (Ironic, this is a compound of 4762.)	Verb	turn, return. (2)	come, come again, go, go again, convert, return, turn, turn about, turn again. (9)	back, return, take back, turn, turn back, turned again, turned around, turning, turning around. (9)
3319	Adjective	in the middle, in the midst. (2)	among, X before them, between, + forth, mid(-day, -night), midst, way. (8?)	among, before^, between, center, forward^, midday^, middle, midnight^, midst, two, way, within^*. (12)
268	Noun	sinner. (1)	sinful, sinner. (2)	sinful, sinner. (2)
5368	Verb	love, kiss. (2)	kiss, love. (2)	kiss, love. (2)
4750	Noun	mouth, edge. (2)	edge, face, mouth. (3)	edge, face, lips, mouth, say^*, testimony, utterance, voice, words. (9)
1432	Adverb	freely. (1)	without a cause, freely, for naught, in vain. (4)	freely. (1)
TOTALS	24 words	49 renderings + 5 for error. 54 renderings.	150 renderings	214 renderings

Note: because the MLV concordance is not a finished work we have added a 10% error to the final MLV total.

If you have any other translation information to add to this chart please send it along to the email address below.

The King James Version uses almost 3 times as many words or phrases for the corresponding Greek words than the Modern Literal Version does and the New American Standard Bible 1995 uses over 4 times as many. So the Modern Literal Version does meet its claim to be the 'world's most accurate bible translation.'

The MLV is NOT under the control of any denomination or publishing company and is not the current work of any either. Remember the MLV is OPEN TO ALL who have "thus saith the Greek" fixes. Submit them to create an even more accurate MLV. Anyone who wants to help in various others ways is always welcome.

To volunteer or to send corrections for the Modern Literal Version, please contact one of us at
mlvbible (at) gmail (dot) com

KJV & NASB stats were from concordances.org. MLV stats are from the prep work of the Modern Literal Version Concordance Cross Reference to Greek.