Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
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]; |
Subject: Is the ASV equal to the NASB? |
Bible Note: Greetings Makarios! Excellent post! The other day, I had made the comment that translation of the New Testament is usually not difficult in and of itself, but the process of putting the thoughts and words into English can often be difficult. 1 Cor. 2:13 is an example of where even the translation itself is difficult. The last phrase literally reads: 'with spiritual spiritual combining'. The two "spiritual's" are from the same word, but they are in different cases and could even be different in gender. The second occurrence is clearly neuter in gender, but the first could be neuter or masculine. So, there is no certainty about what Paul means. Is he speaking of spiritual 'things', 'people', or 'words'? Even the meaning of the verb is not clear. It could have the meaning of combining, comparing or even of interpreting. Here is what A. T. Robertson says about the phrase: "Comparing spiritual things with spiritual (pneumatikois pneumatika sunkrinontes). Each of these words is in dispute. The verb sunkrino, originally meant to combine, to join together fitly. In the lxx it means to interpret dreams (Genesis 40:8, 22; 41:12) possibly by comparison. In the later Greek it may mean to compare as in 2 Co 10:12. In the papyri Moulton and Milligan (Vocabulary) give it only for “decide,” probably after comparing. But “comparing,” in spite of the translations, does not suit well here. So it is best to follow the original meaning to combine as do Lightfoot and Ellicott. But what gender is pneumatikois? Is it masculine or neuter like pneumatika? If masculine, the idea would be “interpreting (like lxx) spiritual truths to spiritual persons” or “matching spiritual truths with spiritual persons.” This is a possible rendering and makes good sense in harmony with 1 Co 2:14. If pneumatikois be taken as neuter plural (associative instrumental case after sun in sunkrinontes), the idea most naturally would be, “combining spiritual ideas (pneumatika) with spiritual words” (pneumatikois). This again makes good sense in harmony with the first part of 1 Co 2:13. On the whole this is the most natural way to take it, though various other possibilities exist." Great discussion! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |