There is no solid ground for assuming that the Revised Standard Version has supplanted or ever will supplant previous versions. For instance, Joel could speak of lamenting like "a bethulah over the husband of her youth" (1:8 ) and Jeremiah could picture Israel (in a state of marriage relationship with Jehovah, from whom she had gone astray) as "the virgin (bethulah) daughter of Israel" (31:4, 21 ; etc.). The ASV was immediately recognized as vastly superior to the RV. 1. The most obvious changes were the restoration of Mark 16.9-20 and John 7.53-8.11 aka The Pericope Adulterae to the text . But these bring their own troubles. One method refers the statement of deity to Christ, two to God the Father, and one leaves the matter undetermined. 6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. In 2011, the NIV translation committee published a revised version that updated a few sticking points like that verse in Hebrews (its now For what children are not disciplined by their father?) but kept many of the decisions behind the TNIV. An examination of both the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Revised Standard Version by conservative scholarship reveals that the Version is far from safe or reliable for general use. 13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. Stein says he was surprised later to see that Grudem, who is well known for his systematic theology textbook but is not a scholar of the synoptic Gospels, had made several significant insertions and edits. The Revised Standard Version Bible seeks to preserve all that is best in the English Bible as it has been known Spiritual gifts are sovereign abilities given by the Spirit of God, at least one to every believer, for the purpose of edifying the church and glorifying God. He was an adviser in the gainful employment of the kingalbeit with a job description a bit different than the other sages. Knowing it wasnt my place to keep listening, I donned my headphones. WebThe RSV used young woman in [Isaiah 7:14 RSV], which was troublesome to some at the time. I (reprint, Grand Rapids, 1949), p. 394. The salesperson would hand you a copy of the Authorized or King James Version of 1611. 2 Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. A gender-inclusive Todays New International Version attracted the scorn of traditionalists. See Keil and Delitzsch, op. This may or may not be true, but it is affirmed that on the basis of their books, magazine articles and known declarations the following is a correct, composite picture of the liberal views of the Committee. Cf. Whereas in 1962 the translation panel had merely authorized a handful of changes, in 1971 they gave the New Testament text a thorough editing. The word for this and other accusers in the Old Testament is hassatanthe satan. cit., pp. So its the was removed and Satan got capitalized as a proper name. Again, the important Messianic predictions recorded in Psalm 45 are obscured by the Revised Standard rendering of "you" for "Thou" as if deity were not addressed. in capitalizing such references, clearly attested by the sense of the passage or by New Testament fulfillment and quotation, as e.g. Or helpfuleven if they contain a kernel of truth. 3. Just like the prophet and the warrior are not names of specific people but biblical roles, so hassatan was a role that many different characters played depending on the circumstance. The missing verses mentioned above are simply not found in some of the oldest and most reliable manuscripts. The NCCC is conspicuously undemocratic. So you have to err on one side or the other: young woman or virgin. The CBTs Douglas Moo often tells people, There are two things nobody wants to know: How sausages are made and how Bibles are translated.. If you specified that you wanted a Catholic Bible, you would be handed a different book, one with the complicated sub-title of Rheims- Douai-Challoner Version , which was translated in 1582 and revised in 1750 by Bishop Challoner for English-speaking Roman Catholics. See something we missed? It merely states that he has been rendered inoperative, insofar as the believer is concerned, in the death of Christ. The distinction between the two words is often important in the New Testament. The rabbis for polemic reasons labored from the use of bethulah in the Pentateuch to make it the sole word for "virgin" as over against the alleged meaning of 'almah, "young woman." The policy is defensible, but the execution has been very poor. . Share your feedback here. It is not claimed that each member of the Committee holds to each of the errors in the following list. As an example of the tendency to paraphrase, one can turn to 1 Corinthians 2:14. The RSV version being in a language closer to 20th C english than the traditional King James Version (KJV) and less colloquial than the New International Version (NIV). The point is that in the Prophetic Books the word bethulah does not mean exclusively a virgin (cf. Israel has turned from God in spite of large spiritual advantages. Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is Gods servant for your good. This version is unreliable and unacceptable, not only because of the doctrinal position and method of translation of those who actually produced it, but also because of the known anti-conservative views and activities of its sponsor and copyright owner, the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Further, an attempt at introducing gender-sensitive language attracted such antipathy that a 1997 revision was abandoned. The Twelve Minor Prophets (reprint, Grand Rapids, 1949), Vol. As Southern Baptist Seminarys John D.W. Watts said, one is wrong by being too broad and the other is wrong by being too narrow. It is evident that the revelation was one beyond human understanding. How much more appropriate, then, for this to be a reference to the deity of the Messiah! But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. Robert Stein is now 85 and retired after years as a New Testament professor at Bethel Seminary and Southern Seminary. One difference was the way the name of God (YHVH) is translated. Polemics flew from the presses in tract, pamphlet, and book form. and American Standard "Thy throne, O God" -- ascribing deity to the Messiah, as attested by the New Testament (Heb 1:8) and the ancient versions. In the first place, the reference to the human nature of Christ in the kata sarka would suggest some reference to the divine nature also. And yet the new version with its "You are the Christ" says that Peter looks upon Him simply as a man. My experience in doing study notes for the English Standard Version was very negative, Konkel told me in a letter. They depart from the true doctrine in: (1) The denial of the verbal, plenary inspiration of the original Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments. Theres the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) and the English Standard Version (ESV) and the New Living Translation (NLT) and the New International Version (NIV). Is the King James Version the only Bible we should use. If there is, it must be found in the following words. Jordan K. Monson is a PhD student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, a former Bible translation consultant in So Tom and Prncipe, and the pastor of Capital City Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. It means "to make idle or inactive, to render inoperative," being derived from kata, here a causative, and argos (i.e., a-ergos, "inactive or inoperative"). The US Air Force even warned against using the RSV in a 1960 training manual, due to its supposed Communist commitments. It is borne out anew by the way in which the NCCC has proceeded with regard to the production and publication of the Revised Standard Version: (1) The selection of the personnel of the Revision Committee shows clearly the doctrinal bias of the Council and its decidedly modernistic position. The Word on Fire Bible: an evangelization strategy animated by beauty. 1. 395-98. So, an alternative revision called the NASB was developed. Believers typically refer to six passages of scripture when denouncing same-sex relationships. In his presentation speech to the International Council of Religious Education, Luther Weigle, dean of the translation committee, explained that he wanted the RSV to supplement and not supplant the King James and American Standard Versions. The great NT prof at Cambridge, C. H. Dodd, was the project director. and Reginald C. Fuller, the RSV for Catholic use with the release of the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition . [ This article is also available in
Take those things away from him, Satan says, and hell curse you to your face.. How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth: A Guide to Understanding and Using Bible Versions by Gordon D. Fee & Mark L. Strauss. This app contains both "Old Testament" and "New Testament" in English. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible that was popular in the mid-20th century. The use of this version therefore should be limited to comparative and critical private study by discerning students only, and it should be referred to with the same reservation and precaution that one uses in consulting other liberal versions and religious works. WebYes, believe it or not, I did read the Bible a few times. But they told him to keep it, saying they would like to keep his study notes, edits and all. WebThe RSV was labeled a Communist Bible, and the Un-American Activities Committee of the US House of Representatives investigated members of the translation committee for Communist ties. In 2011 the NIV was revised again, this time to much broader acceptance by traditionalists. This more appropriately accounts for Paul's "great heaviness and continual sorrow" (v. 2 ). This emphasis on accuracy and loyalty to the original tests makes the NASB unique.. It is still one of the most popular translations ever done. G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 238. The impoverished style of the ASV prompted the International Council of Religious Education to recommend a revision. But whether or not market professionals sit at the translation table, the market has a way of making its opinions known. Lastspring, the latest translation of the English language Bible was made availablefrom the eight publishers that were licensed to print it. It is powerful in its simplicity and directness. The error is even clearer in Hebrews 2:14, for the new version states that Satan has been destroyed. This high evaluation of the Hebrew Text is notably absent in the Revised Standard Version, and is manifested in such procedures as the rejection of the use of italics to indicate words in the translation not found in the original Hebrew, paraphrastic renderings, and ready emendations with or without the authority of the ancient versions when the Hebrew may or may not be unintelligible. Few contemporary Job commentarieseven conservative evangelical onesthink we should be translating the character in Job as Satan. Neither does The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT). The translators were lambasted for it. Hes not there because God might be prone to error, but so God can answer why the righteous praise him and do good. The following review of the Revised Standard Version appeared in Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 110 (Jan. 1953) pp. WebFor there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. It is in fact impossible for the translator completely to divorce either theology or exposition from his task. The translation was motivated by a belief that Scripture is sacred and that the words of the Bible are the very words of God. As Hendrickson notes, the Bible that Trump held over his head was a Revised Standard Version (RSV). "holy one" instead of "Holy One" (Ps 16:10), and "sun of righteousness with healing in its wings" instead of "Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings" (Mal 4:2). So a spectacle was presented of millions of people enthusiastically hailing a book which they had not yet seen nor read, and which mainly radical opponents of the great fundamental truths of Scripture had produced and propagandized. Not the little white ones, but the massive half domes deep within my bag. this is simply not true, he said. This would give the RV time to become established and overtake the KJ. And when detractors within the denomination criticized those decisions, Southern Baptist leaders response that the CSB is gender accurate rather than gender neutral sounded familiar. The NRSV is the most recent revision in a family lineage ofBibles. Although Ive written my own book taking an honest look at the King James Version, I dont think these comments were fair. To address this, translators have been careful to choose the closest words and phrases. Sometimes evil characters played the adversary. WebThe Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible that was popular in the mid-20th century. I myself used the NKJV for a decade before I learned the truth about the preserved words of God. This means changes that go against tradition dont happen often. What does RSV stand for in the Bible? We want to avoid assuming newer understandings are always better understandings, but its hard not to wonderif they had access to the evidence we have, what would their voices say? Very well, then, God responds, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life (Job 2:56). They couldnt decipher the languages of almost any of the Hebrews neighbors. Another serious flaw in the realm of the exegesis of the New Testament is the policy of the new version to refer to Christ by the familiar form of the personal pronoun, "you," and to God by the reverential form, "thou," "thy," etc. A table away from me in the cramped caf, two souls were projecting a conversation in volumes fit for a lecture hall. Dont Miss: What Does The Bible Say About Mary Magdalene, Choice of NIV or NKJ Super Giant Print Classic Bible with Alberti Popaj, EWTN Religious Catalogue 2013-05-20 -20 The Navarre Bible: Pentateuch & Inside the Bible, Scripture and Tradition with Fr. WebThe RSV-CE doesn't make any sense to me. Instead, the translation intensely angered many Christians. WebThe Revised Version ( RV) or English Revised Version ( ERV) of the Bible is a late 19th-century British revision of the King James Version. Yet when the context is examined nothing short of a tremendous miracle comprising heaven and earth is unequivocally indicated. The A.V. Words like these just were not calculated to win people over: The King James Version has grave defects. In some instances nothing more objectionable is involved than a toning down of a Messianic reference by rejecting the sound procedure of the A.V. The RSV preface leaves the impression that there are lots and lots of important mistakes in the Greek text underlying the KJV New Testament. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the development of Biblical studies and the discovery of many manuscripts more ancient than those upon which the King James Version was based, made it manifest that these defects are so many and so serious as to call for revision of the English translation. 4. In 196566, the Catholic Biblical Association adapted, under the editorship of John Archibald Henslowe OrchardO.S.B. Some have taken the position that a group of men holding such views on the above-mentioned vital issues as well as maintaining other destructive critical attitudes can nevertheless produce an unbiased English text "containing no changes in doctrine or fundamental concepts," because they have translated objectively without introducing into the work any of their personal views. The version has taken such liberties of a textual nature as to throw it open to serious question. But by the prophetic period the word, as words often do, had evidently changed in meaning, so that 'almah became the more normal word for virgin rather than bethulah. As McMaster Divinity College Old Testament professor August Konkel told me, Treating hassatan as the Devil gives the perception of a dualism in which God and the Devil make equal claims on a persons life and that sometimes the Devil wins. Whats important in Job, he said, is the concept of a holy and sovereign God in control of all events of our lives.. and American Standard Versions alone obviously meet the scope of this passage: "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," since the "Child" was born in Bethlehem, but the "Songiven" (Isa 9:6, 7) was "from everlasting.". Some critics had been won over. Most of the committeemen are not true conservatives, much less are they fundamentalists. This cannot stand . In no passage do the translators of the Revised Standard Version of the Old Testament do more violence to the context of a Messianic prediction and prove more conclusively that linguistic science alone is often not sufficient for a valid rendering than in their translation of 'almah by "young woman" instead of "virgin" in Isaiah 7:14. Again, a translator is not acting as an expositor, but unless he can grasp the meaning of the passage to be translated his knowledge of the language alone will not be sufficient to assure an acceptable rendering. The Federal Council of Churches in America which the NCCC succeeded gained an unenviable reputation for arbitrariness in the eyes of conservatives during the forty years of its existence. You will know from the King James the exact meaning: hell. We know what that means. The attempt seemed to be one of getting so many names behind the version that it would be embarrassing to oppose the majority opinion thus obtained. One thing is absolutely clear from the context of Isaiah 7. Accordingly it demands a spiritual equipment and a comprehension of spiritual truth of all who would handle it, whether the simple gospel preacher or the learned critic, whether the devotional expositor or the scientific translator. Theologically the only significant improvement to either the Geneva or KJV is resolving the differences between the three scripture traditions: Masorete(Hebrew), Septuagint(Greek), and Dead Sea Scrolls (Hebrew), and translating those to an English bible collection. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Not many years ago, if you walked into a book store and asked for a Bible, you could be pretty sure of what to expect. The New International Versions committee, for example, does not. The publishers claim that the translators of the NASB kept the original word order wherever possible, believing that this was a means the writer used to accent and emphasize what he deemed most important. In Psalm 2:7, for instance, not only do they refuse to capitalize the word "Son" in an obvious Messianic reference but cast a direct slight upon the deity of Messiah by the use of the modern form of the personal pronoun of the second person singular -- "you" instead of archaic "Thou," as if deity were not being addressed: "You are my son" instead of "Thou art [implying deity] my Son" (Ps 2:7; cf. (8) The denial of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, the unity of Isaiah, the historicity of Job and Jonah, and the acceptance of other features of modern criticism. and
Adam is called the son of God in Luke 3:38; there are sons of God in Job 1:6; and Christians are called sons of God in Philippians 2:15, I John 3:2. The translation of the Hebrew word motza'oth "goings forth," referring evidently to the divine activity, by "origin" is precarious since on the divine side Messiah was eternal and without beginning, which limitation however the word "origin" implies. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. It is, well, the version with all They also have to consider the past. It would not be wrong to translate "A person's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps," for the Hebrew is The propagandists for the version showed their colors in seeking to obtain the acclaim and approval of the religious leaders before anyone had opportunity actually to examine the work, for they employed the technique of the band-wagon. They have no influence over what we put in the text, said Douglas Moo, professor at Wheaton College and chair of the NIVs Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). If the translator has no theology he is unqualified to make any choice, especially in a doctrinal passage, and to that extent is rendered incompetent no matter what his purely scientific linguistic talents and equipment may be. And his skills in both Greek and English would be the 20th century equivalent of Tyndales in the 16th century. The purpose to shut out any conservative suggestions as to the betterment of this translation is evident by the fact that 80 changes are reported to have been made in the New Testament English text since it was first published in 1946, but not one of the improved readings suggested in conservative reviews from 1946 to 1951 was included in the changes. In trying to avoid the Charybdis of a theologically biased translation (whether radical or conservative), the Old Testament translation of the Revised Standard Version struck the Scylla of a doctrinally undependable translation. Why should I read the King James and not the helpful New King James? Some of the changes included reverting to the Greek phrase the husband of one wife in 1 Timothy 3.2, 12 and Titus 1.6 , quoting the Roman centurion who witnessed Jesus death and called him the Son of God in Matthew 27.54 and Mark 15.39 , and changing without in Job 19.26 to from . The ESV corrupts John 3:16 by removing the word begotten.. None lead the church into heresy, he said, and all lead to the Cross. When dealing with the Word of God, we dont want to recast lightly an interpretation the whole world has chosen since Jeromes Vulgate when some scholars find a similar word in some Ugaritic manuscripts. [The Bible] is the most valuable thing that this world affords. The Scofield Reference Edition of the King James Version is especially recommended, not only for its excellent notes and other helps but because it gives the important corrections in text as found in manuscripts discovered since 1611. And when the language allows a choice the translator's theology, whether it be conservative or liberal, is bound to influence the choice. And if all Israels neighbors had stories and characters like this, might not the Hebrews as well? Again, one notices the tendency to slur over legitimate distinctions in the Word. Since the ancient text used only consonants, by inserting different vowels than the Masoretes wrote in, modern Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Youve changed the meaning, and it is no longer true to the text., Systematic theologians and Bible scholars have long butted heads in academies across the theological spectrum. Meaning is very important. And it likely never would have been born if it werent for the RSVs translation of young woman instead of virgin. It changed thousands of words, ruined valuable verses, and when not agreeing with the King James Bible, it has instead copied the perverted NIV, NASV or RSV. 2. The preceding discussion has demonstrated that the Revised Standard Version is a translation which can never receive the approval of conservative scholars. This allows translators to maintain scholarly independence from market pressures. It is evident that such a radical stand will always be taken against any conservative betterment of the text. A debate is stirring over revisions made to the final translation of the English Standard Version Bible regarding gender, with one biblical scholars saying the changes are "potentially dangerous." The International Bible Society undertook the translation and produced translations first of the New Testament and then of the complete Bible . Nevertheless, it is a very fresh and very readable translation. The NRSV is a revision of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) produced by a Committee of translators under the mandate of the Division of Education and Ministry of the National Council of Churches. I dedicated myself to the study of the Bible, to be true to the text no matter what., In a statement, Grudem said that the ESV Study Bible notes are the result of modifications and additions suggested by at least seven different editors. Here is some of what convinced me to switch to the King James Bible from the New King James.. But careful conservative scholars, who are not biased against the miraculous, including the deity and virgin birth of Christ, will hesitate to put their imprimatur upon a translation that is doctrinally unreliable and displays in vital passages the unsoundness of modern liberalism. WebThe RSV New Testament was published on February 11, 1946. But not everyone took a liking to the RSV. At the same time, there is nothing wrong with there being multiple versions of the Bible in a language. All have used amodified Elizabethan or Shakespearean, 17th century-English. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. By contractual agreement, the Americans promised not to publish their own translation until the RV had been on the market at least fourteen years. Catholics, on the other hand, do not base their beliefs on the Bible alone. The Hebrew word alma represents a sexually mature but unmarried womanwith the clear cultural expectation that she would be a virgin. Thetranslating committee of the NRSV worked under the auspices ofthe National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA,which also holds the copyright. WebSo, awhile back, I was recommended the NOAB in the RSV, and explicitly not the NRSV. It has been rendered inoperative, however, through the death of Christ. v. 16 ) 'almah denotes a virgin, and in not one of its other Biblical occurrences is the thought of virginity ruled out (Exod 2:8; Prov 30:19; Ps 68:25; Song 1:3; 6:8 ; 1 Chron 15:20). However, some scholars raised concerns about the rendering of some key passages of Scripture, most notably in St. Pauls letters, which they felt had been distorted by an overt evangelical agenda.
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