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NASB | Ezekiel 20:5 and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "On the day when I chose Israel and swore to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, I am the LORD your God, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ezekiel 20:5 and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "On the day when I chose Israel and lifted up My hand and swore to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, I am the LORD your God, |
Bible Question:
A difference in the NASB and NKJ that I have noticed is represented by Ezekiel 20:8. NASB, "Then I resolved [Marginal note, Lit., said] to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt." NKJ, "...Then I said, 'I will pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them..." Which version would you go with for verses 8, 13, and 21; those having the "I resolved to" of the NASB. From the heart, Ray |
Bible Answer: Hi, Ray. Regarding the NASB's use of "resolved" versus the NKJV's "said" in Ezekiel 20:8, 13 and 21: If, as marginal notes in the NASB say, the Hebrew word translated "resolved" literally means "said," then I would opt for "said" -- as the NKJV has it -- for the following reason. In narrative accounts, sacred and secular, when it is clear that someone SAID something, it simply should be stated that he SAID it, not that he resolved or opined or exclaimed or mused or joked or anything else, because anything else beyond simply relating that he said so-and-so is to a certain degree editorializing, an activity in which no formal translation should engage. ..... A careful reading of Scripture leads the reader to conclude that God never engages in idle chatter, and therefore that everything He says is His determination. He is determined, or resolved, to do whatever He says He will do. Thus in this sense, since everything He says is His resolve, to render "God said" as "God resolved" is not really necessary in these passages and reflects, as I have tried to point out, a mild editorial bias that is unbecoming to a translation that calls itself the most literally accurate Bible translation in English. When the text says "I said" it should be translated "I said" and not "I resolved." Let the reader, not the translator, draw his own conclusion about the matter. Seeing no cogent reason to displace the literal "I said" with an editorialized "I resolved," -- thus making it necessary to trouble the reader with an avoidable marginal note -- I tend to favor the more literal and thus more accurate rendition of the NKJV. --Hank |