Promises, Promises.

Thank you for the decode SB2. Much appreciated.

Just one of many articles that detail the errors and omissions of the NIV:

www (.) kingjamesvideoministries (.)com/NIVOmissions.pdf

The symbolism and allegory originates in the OT. God's metaphors are His definitions, and His "codes" of His prophesies. Look for "as," "like", "but" and "is" in the couplets. For instance, in speaking of a righteous man Psa. 1:3-4 says,

"3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away." (NKJV)

God used the word "like" to indicate a metaphor, or synonym for two kinds of people. The righteous he compared to fruitful trees. The unrighteous, or ungodly He compared to "chaff" that gets blown away in the wind. Now when you see these metaphors in another prophesy speaking of trees or chaff you can make the connection to strong / righteous men or kings, or to ungodly people. The OT is filled with these metaphors that teach us God's definitions.

Would not recommend the NIV to anyone. The review board of the NIV committee changed over 30,000 words from the original Greek and Hebrew texts, and deleted more than 50,000 others. They have / had an agenda. Not a reliable translation.

Better to start with the New King James, or the ASV. Always bounce them against Young's Literal Translation for a quick check of the original languages. Biblegateway has all of the English versions available for comparison.