Hotels to Get New King James Version of Bible
The Gideons International is discontinuing the New International Version of the Bible and will soon place the New King James Version in hotel and motel rooms across the nation.
The New King James Version, first published in 1979, “meets the requirements of the Gideons International . . . giving us two versions only,” the New King James version and the King James version, said Guy S. Sanders Jr., president of the Gideons International Cabinet.
The decision by the Gideons, which has distributed bibles to hotel and motel rooms for 87 years, amounted to a victory for the publisher of the New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers of Nashville. That company has been engaged in a competitive struggle with Zondervan, the Michigan-based firm that is publishing the New International Version, for the favor of conservative Protestant bible buyers.
Thomas Nelson publishers, which made the announcement, said the Gideons will not recall all the New International Version translations. “When they get a request for a new English version bible, they will ship out a New King James version rather than NIV,” said a Thomas Nelson spokeswoman.
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