"[4] The NLT relies on recently published critical editions of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.

The method combined an attempt to translate the original texts simply and literally with a dynamic equivalence synergy approach used to convey the thoughts behind the text where a literal translation may have been difficult to understand or even misleading to modern readers.

[8] The Old Testament translation was based on the Masoretic Text (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia) and was further compared to other sources such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Greek manuscripts, Samaritan Pentateuch, Syriac Peshitta, and Latin Vulgate.

Work on this revision began in 1989 with ninety translators; it was published in July 1996, 25 years after the publication of The Living Bible.

[14] A Roman Catholic edition of the NLT with the Deuterocanon was published by ATC Publications in Bangalore, India.

[16] Although the imprimatur does not extend to use of the NLTCE in the liturgy, it has been officially approved by the Catholic Church for private study and devotional use.