Nashville, Tennessee Which Bible Translation Should I Use? Copyright © 2012 by Andreas Köstenberger and David Croteau All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4336-7646-8 Published by B&H Publishing Group Nashville, Tennessee Dewey Decimal Classification: 220.5 Subject Heading: BIBLE—VERSIONS\BIBLE—HISTORY Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked HCSB are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Scripture quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Page 205 is an extension of the copyright page. Printed in the United States of America 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 • 17 16 15 14 13 VP Contents Abbreviations for Bible Versions . vi Editors and Contributors . .vii Foreword . ix To the Reader . 1 A Short History of Bible Translation . 4 Andreas J. Köstenberger and David A. Croteau Chapter 1: Translation Comparison . 24 Chapter 2: The English Standard Version (ESV) . 40 Wayne Grudem Chapter 3: The New International Version (NIV) . 78 Douglas J. Moo Chapter 4: The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) . 117 E. Ray Clendenen Chapter 5: The New Living Translation (NLT) . 157 Philip Comfort Conclusion . 186 Select Annotated Bibliography . 188 Glossary . 193 Name Index . 197 Subject Index . 199 Scripture Index. 201 v Abbreviations for Bible Versions KJV 1611 King James Version ERV 1885 English Revised Version ASV 1901 American Standard Version RSV 1953; 1971 Revised Standard Version AB 1965; 1987 Amplified Bible NASB 1971; 1995 New American Standard Bible LV 1971 Living Bible NEB 1970; 1989 New English Bible TEV 1976; 1992 Today’s English Version (also Good News Bible) NIV 1978; 1984; 2011 New International Version NKJV 1982 New King James Version NRSV 1989 New Revised Standard Version NLT 1996; 2004; 2007 New Living Translation NET 2001; 2003; 2005 New English Translation/NET Bible ESV 2001; 2007; 2011 English Standard Version HCSB 2003; 2009 Holman Christian Standard Bible TNIV 2005 Today’s New International Version vi Editors and Contributors Andreas J. Köstenberger is senior research professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He also serves as editor of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. He has authored or edited numerous books, including The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (B&H Academic); The Lion and the Lamb (B&H Academic), God, Marriage & Family (Crossway), John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), and Invitation to Biblical Interpretation (Kregel). David A. Croteau is associate professor of Biblical Studies at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. He is also the editor of Perspectives on Tithing: 4 Views (B&H Academic). E. Ray Clendenen is senior editor of Bible and Reference Books at B&H Publishing. He served as associate general editor of the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) and associate editor of the HCSB Study Bible and the Apologetics Study Bible. He has taught Hebrew and Old Testament for Philadelphia Biblical University, Criswell College, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. He is general editor of the New American Commentary series and the NAC Studies in Bible and Theology and is the author of Malachi (New American Commentary). Philip W. Comfort is senior editor of Bible Reference at Tyndale House Publishers. He served as New Testament editor for the New Living vii viii Which Bible Translation Should I Use? Translation (NLT) and has taught at Wheaton College, Trinity Episcopal Seminary, Columbia International University, and Coastal Carolina University. He has authored or edited many books, including The Origin of the Bible (Tyndale House), The Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Essential Guide to Bible Versions (Tyndale House), Encountering the Manuscripts (B&H Publishing), and New Testament Text and Translation Commentary (Tyndale House). Wayne A. Grudem has been a member of the Translation Oversight Committee for the English Standard Version (ESV) since its inception in 1998 and served as the general editor for the ESV Study Bible. He became research professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary in 2001 after teaching at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for twenty years. He has served as president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and as president of the Evangelical Theological Society. He is the author of many books, including Systematic Theology (Zondervan). Douglas J. Moo has served on the Committee on Bible Translation for the New International Version (NIV) since 1997 and served as committee chair since 2005. He is Kenneth T. Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College Graduate School, where he has served since 2000. Prior to this, he taught for over twenty years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has written many books, including Romans (New International Commentary on the New Testament), James (Pillar Commentary on the New Testament), and (with D. A. Carson) An Introduction to the New Testament. Foreword ranslation is a tricky business, particularly when it comes to translating T ancient texts in varying languages in order to make them relevant to the culture and at the same time true to the text. No one has been more chal- lenged in this task than Wycliffe Bible Translators who have gone through- out the world in order to translate God’s Word for tribes that originally had no written language. It is staggering to think of first creating a writ- ten language that is true to the verbal environment and then subsequently tackling the task of translating the Bible into that illiterate context. Often the challenges are more than just the pursuit of a good translation. One of my friends went to Papua, New Guinea, as a translator. She met daily with the village chief to learn the language as the first step toward getting it into written form. The village chief sat before her in his native garb, which was nothing at all. Finally, she gave him a pair of Bermuda shorts with a belt and asked him to please come back the next day with them on. He showed up the next day wearing the belt but no shorts! For scholars who sit in cloistered rooms with sophisticated resources and gather in committees to hammer out exact meanings of words and phrases, the task is somewhat less complicated but nonetheless still daunt- ing. Language is like beauty; its meaning is in the eye of the beholder. And one element that adds to the complexity is the controversy that inevitably swirls around the agendas and personal perspectives of the constituencies who are the recipients of the finished work. Unfortunately, controversy ix x Which Bible Translation Should I Use? leads to confusion for many Christians and can, in fact, undercut con- fidence in God’s Word as the divinely inspired source of wisdom and knowledge for all of life and practice. Their questions may range from, Which Bible should I use? to Which Bible should I trust? The book you are about to read will be a great help in answering these questions. The four sections of the book discuss four major translations: the English Standard Version, the New International Version, the Holman Christian Standard Bible, and the New Living Bible. In these pages you will discover the differing philosophies of translating, yet the unifying passion and determination of each of these translations is to remain true to God’s Word. To set the stage, permit me personally to reminisce and give you a sense of history that in the end should strengthen and support your ongo- ing confidence in God’s work in preserving his Word. The Bible has been an integral part of my life since I can remember. I recall singing songs in Sunday school that taught me at an early age to revere Scripture. We would sing, “The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me, I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E!” Memorizing extended passages would be rewarded with scholarships to summer camps. “Sword drills” taught us to find passages quickly, and if we won the contest, we would get stars on a chart. Not only was the Bible at the center of my early childhood develop- ment, but I was also taught to revere the book highly. When I asked my dad why we had a pulpit in the center of the platform instead of on each side with an altar in the middle, he informed me that in our church the Word of God was central. I was taught never to stack another book on top of the Bible but always to have the Bible on top. I would soon realize that I wasn’t the only one who cared about the Bible’s being held in high esteem. On an early trip into the former Soviet Union, I turned the cover of my Bible back under the rest of the Bible as I held it in one hand while preaching, only to discover later that treating the Bible like this was a great offense to the Russian believers to whom I was preaching. A friend from Eastern Europe who was visiting the U.S. was aghast when he saw some- one set the Bible on the bathroom floor while using the facility.