The dynamic theory was inspired by a Spanish translation for Latin American native peoples.

Due to these requests and Nida's theories, Robert Bratcher[2] (who was at that time an employee at the American Bible Society) did a sample translation of the Gospel of Mark.

The result, titled Good News for Modern Man: The New Testament in Today's English Version, was released in 1966 as a 599-page paperback with a publication date of January 1, 1966.

[4] Other portions of the Old Testament began to appear over the course of the 1970s—Job in 1971, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes in 1972, Jonah in 1973, Ruth, Hosea, Amos, and Micah in 1974, and Exodus in 1975.

By 1969, Good News for Modern Man had sold 17.5 million copies[citation needed].

It has been endorsed by Billy Graham[citation needed] and several Christian denominations, including the Catholic Church in the United States (Today's English Version, Second Edition),[7] the Southern Baptist Convention[citation needed], and the Presbyterian Church (USA).

In 1991, a Gallup poll of British parishioners showed that the GNB was the most popular Bible version in that nation[citation needed].

[9] The GNB is written in a simple, everyday language, with the intention that everyone can appreciate it, and so is often considered particularly suitable for children and for those learning English.

Unlike most other translations, some editions of the GNB contain line drawings of biblical events with a snippet of text.