Bible Question: Is The amplified bible is a takeoff of the ASB or NASB? Did the Amplified come from Wescott and Hort? Isnt Wescott and Hort full of errors? Didnt the main translator of the NASB refute the version based on the fact that the Wescott and Hort text was used? |
Bible Answer: B.F. Westcott and F.J. Hort, depending on who you talk to, were either two of the greatest Greek scholars or villainous unsaved instruments of Satan. Without getting involved into the controversies surrounding these men, Westcott and Hort in 1881 produced a "critical" text of the New Testament primarily based on the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus. The former had not been accesible and the latter had been unknown to the translators of the KJV. These manuscripts are much older than the texts upon which the KJV was based and has several variant readings from the KJV. Their goal to ascertain what was the original underlying Greek text behind all the manuscript copies. They are considered the "fathers" of modern Text Criticism. The Westcott-Hort Greek text was the NT basis for the English Revised Version (1885) and its American counterpart, the American Standard Version (1901). Most modern translations follow a Greek text based on Westcott and Hort's scholarship, but with the advanced knowledge gained in last 100 years of Biblical scholarship. A fairly notable recent exception is the New King James Bible which favored the same family of texts (known commonly as the Textus Receptus) as the KJV. The Amplified Bible follows this modern school of scholarship but is conservative in its approach and most of the variant readings not found in the "critical" text are still found in the Amplified Bible (often notated). The NASB for its part, in most instances follows the 23rd edition of the Nestle Greek New Testament. This text is also a "critical" text, but again the NASB is very conservative and, variant readings from the Textus Receptus and other sources are notated or inserted into the text bracketed. For those knowledgeable in Greek, the Textus Receptus and the Westcott-Hort texts can be read online at: http://www.olivetree.com/bible/Frames/GreekNewTestament.htm |