CURRENT NIV: He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
NEW NIV: He protects all their bones, not one of them will be broken.
The current NIV follows the Hebrew; the new NIV changes the meaning. Does this matter? If the change does not matter, why change it from the Hebrew? If it does matter, why mistranslate the Bible? Here, as in most instances, there can be no argument that the current NIV is unclear to the uneducated modern reader. The argument has to be the ``Lure-in-the-Feminists'' one that I discuss elsewhere.
But this passage is a good one for showing how seemingly minor changes are very important. A Jewish reader might think it unimportant, but if some Jewish editor in 200 B.C. had decided to make this little change so as to attract devotees of Ashtoreth, we would have lost a prophecy of Christ. Psalm 34 prophesies the unusual feature of Jesus's crucifixion that his leg bones were not broken. John 19:36 explicitly quotes Psalm 34 to note that a prophecy was fulfilled. Readers of the revised NIV would have to think that John was misapplying a verse about believers in general to one person.
CURRENT NIV: John 19:36: These things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, ``Not one of his bones will be broken,'' ...
NEW NIV: John 19:36: These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ``Note one of his bones will be broken,''...
But the change is even worse than this, because there is another link that is lost, in the Law, where it discusses Passover.
Numbers 9:12-13: They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations. But if a man who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people because he did not present the Lord's offering at the appointed time. That man will bear the consequence of his sin.'' (1979 NIV) (see Exodus 12:46 too)
Notice the contrast between they (the Israelites) and that man (the offender). I don't know how the feminist NIV deals with this passage. But it shows the importance of the one sacrifice for sin, and that anyone who does not participate in the sacrifice will continue to bear his own sin. See how much meaning Psalm 34 loses when a few pronouns are altered!
Psalm 34:20: ``He keeps all their bones; not one of them shall be broken.'' (NRSV)
John 19:36: ``These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, `None of his bones shall be broken.' '' (NRSV)