Good News Translation (GNT), formerly known as Today's English Version (TEV) or Good News Bible, (copyright, 1976, 1992, American Bible Society, 1-800-322-4253, http://www.bibles.com) is a very honest, very careful, and accurate translation. It represents the United Bible Societies' [UBS] commitment to present the original Bible texts in words and phrases that can be understood in the language and cultural context of the reader. It also is based upon the United Bible Society's definitive Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament texts, which are the best representatives of the original texts available to Bible translators today.

The UBS's goal is for the translated text to have the same meaning to and impact on the reader today as it had on the reader for whom it was originally written almost a two thousand or more years ago. For example, the Greek in Paul's letters was the same everyday, colloquial, currently-spoken Greek that was used in much the Roman Empire of Paul's day. As Helmut Koester writes,

Early Christian writers without exception wrote the language of their time, the Greek Koine... The New Testament has very little relationship to the artificial representation of the language of Attic [Greek] prose in the literature and rhetoric of the Roman imperial period... [With the exception of the Epistle to the Hebrews,] the other books of the New Testament... as well as other early Christian writings, are dominated by the vernacular language." (Introduction to the New Testament, Volume One: History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982, page 107.)

{Note: For more examples of biblical scholars' emphasis of the early Christians' use everyday, vernacular language, browse http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/koine.htm.}

In fact, the GNT translates the nuances and meaning of the image-rich Greek of the Fourth Gospel much better than the more literal NRSV, NASB, NIV, or most other translations. (For example, see the Bibletexts.com commentary on Joh 1:1 and Joh 1:18 at http://www.bibletexts.com/verses/v-joh.htm.)

The UBS uses the same methodology in the GNT as it uses in other translations that the United Bible Societies (UBS) prepares in many, many other languages found throughout the world. The UBS also publishes an excellent Handbook commentary series (earlier called Translator Handbooks) on many the "books" of the Bible. These voluminous, very high quality commentaries explain in significant detail the honest, meticulous, scholarly research that is behind each phrase used in the GNT translation. In addition to its very honest explanation of the original text, each commentary also explains in great detail the possible choices of translation wording, in English and other language and cultural settings. (The commentaries are available from the UBS at http://www.bibles.com in the Academic Resources area.

See also "Best translations."