Metzger's textual commentary turned me on to a non-controversial variant in Rev. 4:11.

And going over the study questions, the leader read the verse from the NIV:

"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."

I asked her to read it again, to be sure that I heard her correctly. Yes, the translators flipped the last two verbs, from how the standard text reads, "are and were created," to the more logical "were created and are." The inversion isn't noted at all.

I've known for some time that the NIV uses an "eclectic" Greek text as the basis for its NT translation. A growing number of modern English Bibles do the same. I can't understand why, but the critical text seems to have been all but abandoned.

However, I have a copy of the NIV's "eclectic" text, supposedly, so I checked it. The font is a little more ornate than I am used to, but I can make it out well enough. It is good to be comfortable with a variety of typefaces, you know. Recreationally, I used to work through old books printed in German blackletter in college, just to improve my recognition of the letters. For the most part, you just have to distinguish "f" from "s".

Anyway, the NIV's eclectic text conforms to the standard text on Rev. 4:11! So, why doesn't the English translation follow the word order of the Greek? Or at least, footnote the deviation. Don't know.

Of course, this is an unimportant discrepancy because the verbs function as virtual synonyms in the verse, as the NAB's translation makes clear:

because of your will they came to be and were created.

But I'm just struck by how, time and again, the NAB manages to capture the nuance of the Greek in tricky places where other English translations fall down.

Consider the ESV:

by your will they existed and were created.

leaves the reader asking, "How can things exist before they are created?!"

From the NAB rendition, we see that there is a way to remain faithful to the Greek and spare the reader confusion. The NIV gives up on the former and the ESV disregards the latter.