Since the original time of writing of this article, many new versions have come into being and others, not previously considered, have been scrutinised. Versions which have become more widely used are the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), the favourite of scholars which, though it has a liberal bias, is extremely useful inasmuch as The New Interpreter's Study Bible lists all textual variants. The English Standard Version (ESV), another scholarly work, though this time conservative, is also much liked now, and does the same in the ESV Study Bible. A very useful scholarly paraphrase is N.T.White's Kingdom New Testament (KNT) and the Concordant Version now includes the Tanakh (Old Testament).

Many new Messianic versions have appeared over the years, in addition to the HRV, ISRV and JNT (including new revisions - the JNT now includes the Tanakh or Old Testament as is today called the Complete Jewish Bible or CJB), such as the Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB), Halleluyah Scriptures (a clone of the ISRV), The Messianic Aleph-Tav Scriptures (MATS) and The Aleph-Tav Old Testament (ATOT). One which we widely use now, though it has one or two weaknesses (and is very expensive), is the Aramaic English New Testament (AENT) and is definitely en par with the HRV though lacking some of the latter's insights.

The Bible version choice for use on the mission field and in local congregations where English is the main tongue cannot, unfortunately, only be based on excellence of translation, though ideally it should be. There are always major problems like cost to consider as well as well as Bible Versions availability and readableness. Though not always possible, for economic reasons, we recommend that members own a couple of versions - one Protestant and one Messianic and as you will have read above, we originally favoured the NKJV and HRV. The problem with the latter is that it very expensive and few but the occasional pastor are able to afford it. The cheapest Messianic version (if bought in bulk) is the Halleluyah Scriptures (HS) but unfortunately this is not one we particularly like but until a cheaper messianic version becomes available this is one many are opting for.

There are some 'messianised' versions of Protestant versions but because of copyright issues these are few and far between and are not always the best. Various on-line public domain versions are available but these aren't much use in third world countries where the oridinary members can't afford a computer, let alone have access to one, for whom a hardcopy Bible is essential. A messianised KJV exists bust most people cannot understand old Jacobean English, making it useless to all but those actually raised on the KJV. This is our dilemma.

Whatever choice is made for local congregations, the pastor must have a set of decent versions so that he can correct the errors in the cheaper ones. All pastors have CD-ROM copies of the main website where they can study revisions off-line. As far as Protestant versions are concerned, the choice tends to be between the NKJV and the ESV today (2016). At some point or other, NCAY will have to choose one Bible version that can become standard throughout all the assemblies and then issue a continually updated booklet containing revisions/corrections to that version. That remains our goal. Our problem is that current Messianic versions, though using True Names and better reflecting Hebrew roots, cannot begin to compare with the scholarly professionalism of the cream of the Protestant versions (NRSV, ESV, etc.). As English literature, most of the messianic versions are frankly awful which is why Protestant ones, along with cost issues, still tend to be favoured by most members. How this will be resolved is presently unclear but remains high on our action agenda.

To keep up-to-date with current NCAY preferences, please see Article 6 of the current Constitution.