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NASB | 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God's will, both publicly and privately--behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; |
Bible Question: Is the American Standard Version any less or more literal or reliable than the NASB we have today? |
Bible Answer: Greetings Justme! Al Maxey has some very helpful comments in finding strengths/weaknesses in the ASV: http://www.zianet.com/maxey/Ver7.htm And he has a similar page of strengths/weaknesses in the NASB: http://www.zianet.com/maxey/Ver6.htm One verse that was mentioned was 1 Corinthians 2:13: The ASV reads, "Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words." ('words' italicized) The NASB (both '77 and '95) reads, "which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." ('thoughts' and 'words' are both italicized) Just for comparison, the ESV reads "And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual." The NET Bible: "And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. (1)" with the following textual note: "1 tn Or “combining spiritual things with spiritual words” (i.e., words the Spirit gives, as just described)." And the NKJV: "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual." I pick on this verse because it has always somewhat intrigued me that the NASB translators followed the ASV with the 'things' and 'words' addition at the end of this verse, which implies a little bit of interpretation, rather than just stick with the 'comparing spiritual things with spiritual' like the KJV. There are other places that the ASV and NASB are very similar as well, seemingly of the 'same mind' it seems. I believe that perhaps the biggest difference between the NASB and the ASV is that the NASB was translated with the help of many more available manuscripts and resources available for translation, whereas the ASV did not have so many at the time. The article above will point out this difference and how it affects translation in several areas, specifically with proper nouns. J.P. Green of Lafayette, IN wrote a 'literal' translation of the Bible, and this was his translation of 1 Cor. 2:13 "Which things we also speak, not in words taught in human wisdom, but in Words taught of the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things." ('Words' and last occurrence of 'things' italicized) I do not believe that the ASV could be considered as 'more reliable' than the NASB we have today simply because of the larger amount of resources that the NASB translators have access to. But the ASV will always be a great source to go back to in order to understand how some of the modern translations came up with their more formal equivalent renderings. The Vulgate could even be more 'literal' in some places than the KJV, but it would be much more difficult to read if you don't know Latin. Even though the ASV was translated using English, the NASB '77 and '95 are far superior because of the contemporary English and utilization of all available resources. Blessings to you, Makarios |