{
  "schema": 1,
  "updated": "2026-10-17",
  "note": "Published survey figures only, copied exactly as reported. Nothing is estimated: a version or denomination with no published figure is left out, not shown as zero. Sources were checked on 2026-10-17.",
  "translations": {
    "NIV": {
      "name": "New International Version",
      "color": "#0b6aa8",
      "darkColor": "#5aa9e6"
    },
    "KJV": {
      "name": "King James Version",
      "color": "#c2410c",
      "darkColor": "#f08a4b"
    },
    "NRSV": {
      "name": "New Revised Standard Version",
      "color": "#047857",
      "darkColor": "#3fbf8f"
    },
    "NKJV": {
      "name": "New King James Version",
      "color": "#a3367f",
      "darkColor": "#e07bc0"
    },
    "NASB": {
      "name": "New American Standard Bible",
      "color": "#7a5c00",
      "darkColor": "#d1ae3a"
    }
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "ellison2004",
      "measure": "pastor usage (survey), not sales",
      "researcher": "Ellison Research (Phoenix)",
      "publishedIn": "Facts & Trends magazine, May/June 2004, LifeWay Christian Resources",
      "year": 2004,
      "population": "Senior pastors of Protestant churches in the United States, a nationwide sample covering a wide range of denominations",
      "sample": 700,
      "marginOfError": "plus or minus 3.6 percentage points (all pastors)",
      "question": "Which Bible version the pastor uses (Baptist Press reports \"use\"; Religion News Service reports \"prefer\" and \"favorite\"). The study covered 12 versions; only the figures below were published in the reports.",
      "reports": [
        {
          "title": "Most pastors use the NIV, KJV Bibles, study suggests",
          "publisher": "Baptist Press",
          "author": "Michael Foust",
          "date": "2004-05",
          "url": "https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/most-pastors-use-the-niv-kjv-bibles-study-suggests/"
        },
        {
          "title": "Survey: Protestant Clergy Most Likely to Use New International Version (RNS Daily Digest)",
          "publisher": "Religion News Service",
          "author": "Adelle M. Banks",
          "date": "2004-05-10",
          "url": "https://religionnews.com/2004/05/11/rns-daily-digest2282/"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "overall": {
    "source": "ellison2004",
    "label": "All U.S. Protestant senior pastors (n = 700)",
    "figures": [
      {
        "code": "NIV",
        "percent": 31
      },
      {
        "code": "KJV",
        "percent": 23
      },
      {
        "code": "NRSV",
        "percent": 14
      },
      {
        "code": "NKJV",
        "percent": 13
      },
      {
        "code": "NASB",
        "percent": 10
      }
    ]
  },
  "byDenomination": {
    "source": "ellison2004",
    "reportUrl": "https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/most-pastors-use-the-niv-kjv-bibles-study-suggests/",
    "note": "Only the versions named for each group in the Baptist Press report are shown; other versions were not published for that group. Group sample sizes and margins of error were not published.",
    "groups": [
      {
        "name": "Southern Baptist",
        "figures": [
          {
            "code": "NIV",
            "percent": 26
          },
          {
            "code": "NKJV",
            "percent": 25
          },
          {
            "code": "KJV",
            "percent": 23
          },
          {
            "code": "NASB",
            "percent": 22
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "Other Baptist (not Southern Baptist)",
        "figures": [
          {
            "code": "KJV",
            "percent": 51
          },
          {
            "code": "NIV",
            "percent": 24
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "Methodist",
        "figures": [
          {
            "code": "NIV",
            "percent": 45
          },
          {
            "code": "NRSV",
            "percent": 38
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "Lutheran",
        "figures": [
          {
            "code": "NRSV",
            "percent": 48
          },
          {
            "code": "NIV",
            "percent": 23
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "Pentecostal",
        "figures": [
          {
            "code": "KJV",
            "percent": 45
          },
          {
            "code": "NIV",
            "percent": 23
          },
          {
            "code": "NKJV",
            "percent": 15
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "notPublished": [
      "Presbyterian",
      "Non-denominational",
      "Other denominations"
    ]
  },
  "notUsed": [
    {
      "source": "ECPA Bible Translations Bestsellers (Circana BookScan sales data)",
      "url": "https://christianbookexpo.com/bestseller/translations.php?id=BO25",
      "reason": "These rankings measure retail sales, not pastor usage, and the list states that publishing or redistributing it requires written consent from Circana, so the site links to it instead of copying it."
    },
    {
      "source": "Newer national surveys of pastors' preaching translations (Lifeway Research, Barna)",
      "url": "",
      "reason": "No published nationwide figures by translation were found in a search on 2026-10-17; Lifeway Research's recent pastor surveys cover Bible reading and sermons, not translation share."
    }
  ]
}