Subject: What do ( ) mean in NASB? |
Bible Note: Onlyaberean: I love your user name! That's what we all of us should ever be, a Berean, especially in the day and age we live in, when so much false doctrine is being hurled at us from all sides. Regarding your question about parentheses in the NASB, so far as I'm able to determine their significance is that they are used to mark off explanatory or qualifying remarks (called parenthetical expressions) from the main body of the text. They do not alter the wording or the meaning of the text in any way, but serve only to enchance its readability and lend it a measure of clarity. NASB is not unique in this practice, by the way. I just now looked up the passage you mentioned, Lev. 4:10, in the English Standard Version and it treats of the passage in the same manner as the NASB does. Brackets, thus [ ], are not the same thing as parentheses, thus ( ), and serve a different function in the NASB. Note the use of brackets beginning at Mark 16:9 and ending at v.20. The NASB explains the use of these brackets in a footnote which says "Later mss add vv. 9-20". --Hank, only a Berean too! |