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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: In the 1965 edition of Amplified Bible 2 Tim 3:16 the "is" in 'Every Scripture is...', the "is" is italicized signifying it is not found in the original text In the 1987 edition of Amplified Bible the "is" is no longer italicized indicating that it is now in the original text. What happened? Why the change? |
Bible Answer: Bud, your question is decidedly not a nit-picking one and involves issues far wider than a simple parsing of what "is" is. If the true sense of Paul's meaning were to be construed that "all Scripture inspired by God is profitable..." it would change the dynamic materially with far-reaching consequences. We would find ourselves in the unhappy position of then seeking to determine which parts of Scripture are inspired by God and which are not. By what yardstick are we to measure that? The obvious answer is that we have no such yardstick. I shudder to think what total confusion would ensue if this line of interpretation prevailed. One alternate reading of this passage that has been proffered reads, "All Scripture, because it is God-breathed, is profitable..." I cannot shed any light on the italicized "is" in the earlier edition of the Amplified. Perhaps the translators erred and corrected it in subsequent editions. The Bible is a large and enormously complex book, and translators, after all, have feet of clay along with the rest of us. A boo-boo here and there is virtually inevitable, especially in a first edition of a new translation. Look at how many revisions the revered King James Version has undergone in its long history. As you have noted, the NASB uses the "is" without italics, footnotes or other embellishment. I believe, the NASB translators' fidelity to the ancient texts being what it is, we have both the words and the meaning of the original text. Hank. |