Why Different Bibles Include Different Verses

Contrary to some recent rumors spreading in social media, we have not removed any verses or altered any of the content of Bible versions that we make available via YouVersion. It is true that many of the versions that Bible scholars and translators have worked on in the last 30 years don’t include some verses that were included in older translations like the King James Bible. Here are some quick facts to help explain why:


 

Quick facts:

  • Several popular Bible versions do not include some verses that are part of older versions, like the King James Version.
  • The KJV used the best manuscripts available when it was published in 1611.Since then, older manuscripts have been discovered and carefully evaluated by Bible scholars, who concluded that these older texts are more reliable.
  • These older and more reliable texts do not include certain verses.
  • When translators worked on popular versions like the NIV, ESV, or NET, they used the best manuscripts available—the older texts, which don’t include the verses in question.
  • The few verses not found in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts are included or referenced in footnotes by modern translators. In the Bible App you can often see these references if you have the footnotes option turned on in the settings menu. Tap the bubble icon to read the footnote.
  • The treatment of these verses has not changed recently and reflects a consensus amongst the majority of Bible scholars.
  • The differences in the verses do not alter any core doctrines of the Christian faith.


 

Our mission at YouVersion is to help people all around the world fully engage with the Bible.  We love that our community has a deep concern about the handling of God’s Word. You can rest assured that we, along with our trusted partners, take great care to ensure the accuracy of Scripture on YouVersion.

We partner with reputable Bible societies, publishers, and Bible translators around the world. These organizations devote their time and energy to studying the original manuscripts to stay true to the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic while translating the Bible into modern languages.

The King James Version represents a monumental achievement that advanced Scripture access. Its translators used the best manuscripts available to them in 1611. Those source texts were created before the days of mechanical printing, hand copied by scribes who sometimes inserted words or phrases as clarifications to the Bible text (similar to margin notes). Over hundreds of years, some of those notes were mistakenly integrated into the Bible text itself. Because Bible scholars now have access to even earlier manuscripts, they are able to identify where those additions occurred and treat them accordingly in their translation work.