Editing God's Word Translation (section)

==History==
The ''God's Word Translation'' of the Bible was produced by the God's Word to the Nations Bible Mission Society in [[Cleveland, Ohio]], which relocated in April 2005 to the [[Jacksonville, Florida]], metro area. Although many of its board members were affiliated with the [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]] (LCMS), the society has no official ties to this specific Christian denomination. GW had its beginnings with a New Testament translation titled ''The New Testament in the Language of Today: An American Translation'', published in 1963 by LCMS pastor and seminary professor [[William F. Beck]] (1904–1966).

According to Michael Hackbardt, Executive Director of the society since June 1992, Beck had not completed the Old Testament portion of his Bible prior to his death in 1966, but was awaiting textual suggestions from two colleagues, [[Elmer Smick]], Professor of Old Testament at [[Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary]], and Erich Kiehl of [[Concordia Seminary]]. Smick and Kiehl ensured it was published posthumously in 1976 as ''[[Beck's American Translation|An American Translation]]'' (AAT).

In 1978, it was decided that Beck's translation would be revised. [[Phillip B. Giessler]], a pastor from Cleveland, Ohio, formed a committee and revision work began in 1982. The work of Giessler's committee (although it was—much like Dr. Beck's earlier work—essentially a "one-man" translation team with a single English reviewer) yielded another translation of the New Testament that was released in 1988 as the ''New Testament: God's Word to the Nations (GWN)'' This work was later renamed the ''New Evangelical Translation (NET)'' in 1990. However, according to Hackbardt, Beck's AAT served only as a basis for "English style". In early 1992, according to Hackbardt, all the earlier New Testament work was abandoned by the Society and an entirely new Bible translation based on the best Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek texts, and using the translation principle "closest natural equivalence"—beginning with the Old Testament—was completely re-translated by the society's 5 scholars, 17 technical reviewers, and 4 English reviewers. In early 1994 the translation was renamed ''GOD'S WORD'' prior to being turned over to World Bible Publishers of [[Iowa Falls, Iowa]], in October 1994.

The ''God's Word'' ''Translation'' was released by World Publishing in March 1995. The publishing rights were acquired in June 2003 by Green Key Books of [[Holiday, Florida]], and in 2008, rights to  the translation were acquired by [[Baker Publishing Group]].

In January 2016, God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society ended its publishing arrangement with Baker Publishing Group<ref name="godsword.org">{{Cite web|url=https://godsword.org/pages/translation-history|title=Translation History|website=God's Word Mission Society|language=en|access-date=2023-03-13}}</ref> and began to market and make the ''God's Word Translation'' available for licensing and for custom Bible, evangelism, and mission resources to ministries and parachurch organizations.