New editions of the Bible are all produced with specific markets in mind. So while the translators / editors may not be
Politically motivated they will not be unaware of the theological politics of their target markets. Consequently the translators / editors of a Bible intended say for a conservative-evangelical market might state that
From the beginning of the project, the Committee on Bible Translation held to certain goals for the New International Version: that it would be an accurate translation and one that would have clarity and literary quality and so prove suitable for public and private reading, teaching, preaching, memorizing and liturgical use. The Committee also sought to preserve some measure of continuity with the long tradition of translating the Scriptures into English.
In working toward these goals, the translators were united in their commitment to the authority and infallibility of the Bible as God's Word in written form. They believe that it contains the divine answer to the deepest needs of humanity, that it sheds unique light on our path in a dark world, and that it sets forth the way to our eternal well-being....
...We offer this version of the Bible to him in whose name and for whose glory it has been made. We pray that it will lead many into a better understanding of the Holy Scriptures and a fuller knowledge of Jesus Christ the incarnate Word, of whom the Scriptures so faithfully testify.
Clearly this hardly passes as an agenda for a totally objective and dispassionate approach to translation.
The impact of their approach can be seen in the ‘rationale’ for their translation of Isaiah 7:14
When the Jews translated their Hebrew Bible into Greek (the LXX) c.200 B.C., they used the Greek parthenos (“virgin�) for Hebrew alma. Parthenos is also the word used when Matthew quoted Isaih 7:14 and applied it to Jesus in connection with His virgin birth.
So because Matthew used it in connection with Jesus’ virgin birth, Isaiah must also have meant ‘virgin’.
In making this statement, the NIV translators either chose to ignore, or were ignorant of the fact, that in Attic [Classical Greek] parthenos refers simply to a “young unmarried person� of either gender.
According to LSJ [Liddell-Scott-Jones Lexicon of Classical Greek] the primary meaning of hê parthenos [noun, feminine] is a maiden or young girl. [e.g. Iliad, book 22 line 127] i.e. a young unmarried female. The reference to the marital status is apparent as it could also be applied to unmarried women who were not virgins [Iliad volume 2 line 514, also Pindar’s Odes].
In the masculine it could also refer to an unmarried man
ho parthenos [noun masculine]
To explicitly make reference to a female virgin it had to be used in conjunction with gunê e.g. hê parthenos gunê ~ the girl woman.
Therefore, the meaning of the word parthenos at the time the Tanakh was translated into Greek was a young unmarried girl. However, through the process of semantic shift, the meaning of the word subsequently changed so that in the first century CE it was synonymous with ‘virgin’. Consequently, when the author of Matthew read Isaiah [in Greek] he found a verse that neatly matched his requirements for a prophesy of a virgin birth.
That the translators of the NIV chose to ignore the provenance of parthenos leads to the inevitable conclusion that the only reason for retaining the translation ‘virgin’ in Isaiah 7:14 is political (conservative-evangelical theology) rather than accuracy of translation.
