FACT CHECK: Did HarperCollins Remove 64,575 Words from NIV and ESV Bibles?

A post shared on Facebook claims HarperCollins removed 64,575 words in the NIV and ESV Bibles after acquiring the publishing rights.

Verdict: False

The post is inaccurate. The “missing verses” have been included in footnotes.

Fact Check:

A 2,000-year-old piece of parchment has been discovered that tells a previously unheard of story of Jesus as a boy, according to The Sun. In the story, a five-year-old Jesus turned clay pigeons into live birds, the outlet reported.

A Facebook post shares a “critical warning” that some Bible verses have allegedly been omitted in the NIV and ESV versions. It shows a graphic comparing verses in the KJV and NIV versions.

“NIV was published by Zondervan but is now OWNED by Harper Collins, who also publishes the Satanic Bible and The Joy of Gay Sex. The NIV and ESV has now removed 64,575 words from the Bible including Jehovah, Calvary, Holy Ghost and omnipotent to name but a few,” the post reads, in part. “The NIV and ESV has also now removed 45 complete verses.” (RELATED: Photo Shows 3d Model Of Taylor Swift, Not Biblical Figure Eve Created By Princeton Scientists)

The post is inaccurate. Zondervan, a subsidiary of HarperCollins, responded to the claim in a separate Facebook post in July 2015 in a comment. The company explained that the “missing verses” are actually located in footnotes. “During the exacting translation process for the NIV Bible, some verses were found not to be included in the oldest or most reliable manuscripts that the NIV translators had available to use,” the post reads, in part. “When those verses could not be verified by the more reliable or older manuscripts, the NIV translators moved them to a footnote to reflect greater accuracy.”

Biblica, the global steward of the NIV Bible, also explained that the omitted verses are actually included in footnotes. “These footnotes are intended to help the reader understand that certain perceived differences in the text are due to improved biblical scholarship,” a page on its Bible FAQ reads.

The Committee on Bible Translation issued a statement on the changes made in the NIV version. “It’s important to stress that about 95% of the text of the updated NIV is exactly the same as the
1984 text it replaces,” it reads. It adds that the majority of changes made are “minor matters of vocabulary, sentence structure and punctuation.”

This claim was also debunked by PolitiFact.

Check Your Fact reached out to a HarperCollins spokesperson for comment and will update this piece accordingly if one is received