“IS A TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE INSPIRED?”
Hugo McCord
A sincere brother asks “Is a translation of the Bible inspired?,” and answers that that it “becomes the inspired word of God in a ‘new’ language.” In a time when scholars (?) in a “Jesus Seminar” deny the virgin birth of Jesus and his bodily resurrection, it is refreshing to read an article by a man who still believes that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16).
However, sadness comes when that devout man also says that “the only versions this writer recommends as being the Word of God in English” are the “King James Version (1611) and the New King James Version (1979).” Indisputable is the fact that both of those versions have and are doing much good, but for an uninspired man to say that those two versions, and they alone, are “the Word of God in English” is to adopt the doctrine of the pope pronounced in 1870: that when he speaks ex cathedra, “from the throne,” he “cannot err.”
I. OFTEN THE NKJV CORRECTS THE KJV
1. At the creation of Adam, did he become a “living soul” (Genesis 2:7, KJV), or a “living being” (NKJV)?
2. Since Adam was the “first man” (1 Corinthians 15:45), did God command him to “replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:28, KJV), or to “fill the earth” (NKJV)?
3. Did the second river flowing from the garden of Eden surround “the whole land of Ethiopia” (Genesis 2:13, KJV), or “the whole land of Cush” (NKJV)?
4. Did David pray “Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog” (Psalm 22:20, KJV), or “Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog” (NKJV)?
5. Did David write that God brings “out those which are bound with chains” (Psalm 68:6, KJV), or brings “out those who are bound into prosperity” (NKJV)?
6. Why has the NKJV changed the name “Jesus” (Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8, KJV) into “Joshua”?
7. Why has the NKJV changed the word “hell” (Matthew 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; Revelation 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14, KJV) into “Hades”?
8. Why has the NKJV changed the word “Easter” (Acts 12:4, KJV) into “Passover”?
9. Why did the NKJV change the word “charity” (1 Corinthians 13:3, KJV) into “love”?
10. Why does the NKJV omit the word “unknown” (1 Corinthians 14:2,4, 13, 14, 19, 27, KJV)?
11. Why does the NKJV omit Paul’s name from the caption “The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews”?
12. Why has the NKJV changed the wording “For the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10, KJV) to say, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”?
II. OFTEN BOTH THE KJV AND THE NKJV NEED CORRECTION
1. Both the KJV and the NKJV have the word “firmament” nine times (Genesis 1:6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 17, 20), a word imported by the KJ scholars from Jerome’s (340-420 A.D.) Latin Vulgate, firmamentum, meaning something firm or solid. But Moses’ word was raqia`, meaning something spread out, an expanse.
Jerome’s error has caused unbelievers to laugh at the Bible for presenting the sky as a solid roof with the stars as chandeliers. Jerome probably was influenced by the Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation (c. 250 B.C.), which has stereoma, meaning a solid body, the nine times where Moses had raqia`. Also, in Jerome’s time, the third century astronomy taught that the sky is a “solid [firm] vault with fixed stars.” Now astronomy knows that the heavens above are not a solid roof, and so the word “firmament” in the KJV and in the NKJV should be eliminated in favor of Moses’ word raqia`, something spread out, an expanse. The word “firmament” in the ASV now in the NASV is “expanse,” and also in the NIV. The NRSV really made no correction from the RSV (“firmament”) by using the word “dome.”
However, one can say that the word “firmament” may be defined “poetically as a solid arch or vault” (Webster). But Moses was not writing poetry. Accuracy calls for the translation to be “expanse.”
2. Both the KJV and the NKJV say that Sarah “received strength to conceive seed” (Hebrews 11:11). I made the same mistake in my translation, which error also is found in the ASV and the NASV and the RSV. But the mistake has been corrected in the NIV and the NRSV, and will be corrected in my 4th edition.
I fell into this error because Sarah in Hebrews 11:11 is mentioned by name, not Abraham. Furthermore, what is said in verse 11 was and is biologically impossible for a woman: katabole spermatos, a phrase referring to “the injection or depositing of the virile semen in the womb” (Thayer, p. 330). Since the ability to produce seed, “virile semen,” is only masculine, the “interpretation cannot stand” that Sarah “received power to conceive seed” (Thayer). This “expression could not be used of Sarah, but only of Abraham” (B-G-D, p. 409). And, indeed, an examination of the context (vs. 8-12) makes it clear that Abraham, though he was too old, received power to produce “virile semen” and to father a son. Accordingly, the 4th edition of my translation will say:
By faith he received strength to father a child when he was too old (Sarah herself being barren), because he regarded him who had made the promise to be dependable (Hebrews 11:11).
3. Both the KJV and the NKJV tell that Abraham had eight sons (Genesis 16:15; 21:2; 25:1-2), and yet they both say that Isaac was “his only begotten son” (Hebrews 11:17).
4. Both the KJV and the NKJV say that God has “many” children (John 1:12-13; Romans 8:29; Galatians 3:26; 1 John 5:1), yet both say that Jesus is God’s “only begotten Son” (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9).
5. Both the KJV and the NKJV place the “golden altar” for incense in two places: (1) in the holy place of the tabernacle (Exodus 26:33; 30:1-6; 40:26), and (2) in the most holy place (Hebrews 9:3-4). This contradiction is also found in the ASV, the NASV, the NIV, the RSV, and the NRSV.
6. Both the KJV and the NKJV say that “Zechariah” was the “son of Jehoida” (2 Chronicles 24:20), and they both say that “Zechariah” was the “son of Berechiah” (Matthew 23:35).
7. A prophet predicted that Judas would return the “thirty pieces of silver” (Zechariah 11:13). Both the KJV and the NKJV say that the prophet was (1) Zechariah (1:1) and (2) Jeremiah (Matthew 27:9.
8. When David was hungry, a priest gave him some holy bread (1 Samuel 21:6). Both the KJV and the NKJV say that the priest was (1) Ahimelech (1 Samuel 21:1-6) and (2) Abiathar (Mark 2:26).
9. Both the KJV and the NKJV say that the men journeying with Paul when he saw Jesus in the sky heard the “voice” of Jesus as he talked with Paul (Acts 9:7), and then they both say that “they did not hear the voice” of Jesus (Acts 22:9).
CONCLUSION
Since the NKJV often corrects the KJV, and since the KJV and the NKJV often need correction, he is a misguided brother who writes that “A translation of the Bible is the inspired Word of God.” It is impossible for uninspired translators to produce “the inspired Word of God.”
Every translation of the God-breathed words “is a human--not a divinely inspired--process,” and Is “subject to all the faults” to which man is heir, and therefore “the perfect translation does snot exist” (Professor Jack Lewis (THE ENGLISH BIBLE FROM KJV TO NIV, Baker Book House: Grand Rapids, 1981, p. 10).
Though the Father did not choose to leave us a perfect copy of the autographs, his providence guarantees that we can learn from all the versions how to be saved (1 Peter 1:25).