Bible Question: Why did the translators of the NASB choose not to include the "nun" verse between Psalm 145:13? |
Bible Answer: Greetings! Here is what the commentary of the Net Bible says about your question: *********************************** Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, with each successive verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, in the traditional Hebrew (Masoretic) text of Psalm 145 there is no verse beginning with the letter nun. One would expect such a verse to appear as the fourteenth verse, between the mem and samek verses. Several ancient witnesses, including one medieval Hebrew manuscript, the Qumran scroll from cave 11, the LXX, and the Syriac, supply the missing nun verse, which reads as follows: “The Lord is reliable in all his words, and faithful in all his deeds.” One might paraphrase this as follows: “The Lord’s words are always reliable; his actions are always faithful.” Scholars are divided as to the originality of this verse. Allen argues for its inclusion on the basis of structural considerations (see Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 294-95), but there is no apparent explanation for why, if original, it would have been accidentally omitted. The psalm may be a partial acrostic, as in Pss 25 and 34 (see Dahood, Psalms 101-150, 335). The glaring omission of the nun line would have invited a later redactor to add such a line. ************************************* The short answer to your question would be that there is not enough textual evidence for including the 'nun' section of Psalm 145. However, I can't speak fo the NASB translators! ;-) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |