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NASB | Hosea 13:4 ¶ Yet I have been the LORD your God Since the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, For there is no savior besides Me. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hosea 13:4 ¶ Yet I have been the LORD your God Since [the time you became a nation in] the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, For there is no savior besides Me. |
Bible Question:
Deuteronomy 32:39, "See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me;"NASB And there is no God besides Me; NKJ Hosea 13:4, "Yet I have been the Lord your God Since the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me,..."NASB "And you shall know no God but Me;..." NKJ The two versions are consistent in their readings in the comparisons above. The question is, which is your preference? This is a question concerning the capitalization of the word god, God. If you can express why you choose one over the other it would be appreciated. |
Bible Answer: Hello, Ray. My, but it's been a long time since we "visited" on the forum! It's a pleasure to attempt a response to your question, and so here goes. As you know, it's proper English usage to refer to God with a capital G when we are speaking of the God of the Bible, because we use it as a proper name. But the word "god" is also used as a common name, as when we are speaking of a pagan god or gods...... In the passages you cite I believe the NASB translators used lower case for "god" because they saw it as referring to a pagan god. On the other hand, the NKJV may have taken the view that even though pagans may worship something they call god, there cannot really be any other God. It stresses the uniqueness of God. It's much like saying, "There is no United States but the United States. Any other claim to being the United States is a false claim, a sham, a fake."...... God is in essence saying "I am God. There is no other being in the universe who can be God." ....... It is of some interest to note that the NIV in the Deut. 32:39 verse says "there is no god besides me" while in the Hosea 13:4 verse the rendering is, "You shall acknowledge no God but me." ...... You asked for a preference of one over the other, of using God or god in these verses. Ray, there are, I believe, valid arguments to be made for using either, and I frankly have no real preference. So long as we get the clear message that there is but one God, we have gained from the passages the eternal truth they mean to teach us. --Hank |