And it is not quite fair to say that all of the less literal versions “stress” a paraphrastic method. The NASB is not really in a class by itself, because the New King James Version is about equally literal. The claim made here is somewhat overstated.
This has never been an option for the New American Standard Bible.” While such versions may produce smooth English, the literalness of the Word of God is sacrificed.
Both of these place the highest priority on ease of reading and a lower priority on word-for-word preciseness.
In contrast, the others stress either a loose, personalized paraphrase, or a free-style, thought-for-thought translation known as a dynamic equivalent. “.Ultimately, what separates the New American Standard Bible from the various available versions is that the NASB is a literal word-for-word translation from the original languages. The following statement found on the publisher’s website, 3 expresses the view (shared by many conservatives) that a proper respect for the Word of God should include a respect for and an interest in the smallest verbal details of the text, and a careful awareness of the difference between a translation and an interpretation of the Bible. Original NASB translatorsĪlthough the Updated Edition is slightly less literal than the original, The NASB continues to be one of the most literal versions commonly used in churches today, and the publisher continues to advertise it as such. Below is the list of names posted on the publisher’s website in 2002. But in 1995 this information was finally disclosed. 2įor many years the names of the NASB translators and editors were withheld by the publisher. The version became a byword for conservative literalism among liberal critics, who often compared the NASB unfavorably with the RSV. To some extent the words of Charles Spurgeon regarding the English Revised Version (the British counterpart of the ASV) might also be said of the NASB - “Strong in Greek, but weak in English.” For this reason, many people used the NASB only for reference when doing close study, while using other more “readable” versions for other purposes. This was mostly a consequence of the version’s adherence to the idioms of the original languages, whether or not they were natural in English. The NASB was widely accepted by conservative churches in the years following its publication, but it was often criticized for its awkward and unnatural English. The Greek edition used by the NASB revisers was the 23rd edition of the Nestle text. The publication of the New American Standard Bible began with the Gospel of John in 1960, followed by the four Gospels in 1962, the New Testament in 1963, and the entire Bible in 1971. Also unlike the RSV, the NASB deliberately interprets the Old Testament from a Christian standpoint, in harmony with the New Testament. Although the NASB revisers were influenced by the RSV’s interpretation in many places, 1 overall the NASB is a good deal more literal than the RSV, and thus it preserves the highly literal character that had made the American Standard Version so useful as a translation for close study. It was produced by a company of conservative scholars who wished to provide a literal and conservative revision of the ASV, as an alternative to the Revised Standard Version (1952), which had proven to be unacceptable to conservative churches. Anaheim, California: Foundation Publications, 1995.Īs its name implies, the New American Standard Bible is a revision of the American Standard Version (1901). La Habra, California: Foundation Press Publications, publisher for the Lockman Foundation, 1971. Olson et al., New American Standard Bible. La Habra, California: Produced and published by the Lockman Foundation, 1963.īible, 1971. Olson et al., New American Standard Bible: New Testament. The New American Standard Bible Bible Research > English Versions > 20th Century > NASB