Pervert Translations and Publishers ~ Part 3

Proverb 18:13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

pervert v. /per-vert/ 1 alter from an original meaning or state to a distortion of what was first intended. 2 lead away from what is right, natural, or acceptable.

© South African Pocket Oxford Dictionary, 3rd Edition 2002

At this point, I hope you are seeing the deceptions and misleading that are taking place with a corrupt eclectic textual criticism NT Greek text and a conglomerate media network that promotes profane wicked and evil works alongside pervert bibles and other christian literature packaged as “wholesome” literature, but in fact it is the wiles of the Devil working through greedy money-lusting publishers. It is all about the love of money and the perverting of God’s Holy Word!

The Bible Industry. From Geez magazine, Fall 2009.Credit: Darryl Brown and Aiden Enns.

Should a business which has a tycoon in the ilk of Rupert Murdoch (who was awarded a papal knighthood by Pope John Paul II in 1998) who’s personal fortune was pegged by Forbes at $6.3 billion in 2010, be dealing in profanity and bible distribution at the same time? It comes down to the “love of money which is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10) and it is of great concern that Christians are supporting this empire, that shows no moral ethics. The magnitude is that the Murdoch empire under the brand of Zondervan that controls the publishing of the NIV has published well in excess of 300 million copies of the same. At the same time it is part of the HarperCollins Publishers who also publish the Satanic Bible. Evil is prevailing.

Is Scripture Preserved Through Multiple Revisions?

What is also of great concern is that renowned pastor-teacher Dr John MacArthur who’s NASB MacArthur Study Bible Updated Edition is published by “Nelson Bibles – A Division of Thomas Nelson Publishers Since 1798.” Under the heading “How We Got the Bible”, the subheading “Preservation” on page xx, we can read the following:

How can one be sure that the revealed and inspired, written Word of God, which was recognized as canonical by the early church, has been handed down to this day without any loss of material? Furthermore, since one of the Devil’s prime concerns is to undermine the Bible, have the Scriptures survived this destructive onslaught? In the beginning, he denied God’s Word to Eve (Ge 3:4). Satan later attempted to distort the Scripture in his wilderness encounter with Christ (Mt 4:6,7). Through King Jehoiakim, he even attempted to literally destroy the Word (Jer 36:23). The battle for the Bible rages, but Scripture has and will continue to outlast its enemies.

God anticipated man’s and Satan’s malice towards the Scripture with divine promises to preserve His Word. The very continued existence of Scripture is guaranteed in Is 40:8, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (cf. 1Pe 1:25). This even means that no inspired Scripture has been lost in the past and still awaits rediscovery.

The actual content of Scripture will be perpetuated, both in heaven (Ps 119:89) and on earth (Is 59:21). Thus the purposes of God, as published in the sacred writings, will never be thwarted, even in the least detail (cf. Mt 5:18; 24:25; Mk 13:1; Lk 16:17).

According to MacArthur, and this part I agree with, he says, quote: “Thus the purposes of God, as published in the sacred writings, will never be thwarted, even in the least detail.” (writer’s emphasis). But that is exactly what the NASB has “lost” is translation “even in the least detail.” The NASB has used the same manuscripts from the Westcott-Hort NT Greek text. We can read further from the NASB MacArthur’s Study Bible Updated Edition on page xx under the subheading “Transmission” the following:

… Through the centuries, the practitioners of textual criticism, a precise science, have discovered, preserved, catalogued, evaluated, and published an amazing array of biblical manuscripts from both the Old and New Testaments. …

This is an interesting quote, for in Part 1 we mentioned that Messrs Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892) denied God and became themselves judges of God’s Word through their eclectic textual criticism NT Greek text. So to which “textual criticism, a precise science” is MacArthur referring? And “through which centuries” is he alluding to? Later on under the same subheading “Transmission” MacArthur records the following on page xxi:

… By this providential means, God has made good His promise to preserve the Scriptures. We can rest assured that there are translations available today which indeed are worthy of the title, The Word of God.

The history of a full, English translation Bible, essentially began with John Wycliffe (ca. A.D. 1330-1384), who made the first English translation of the whole Bible. Later, William Tyndale was associated with the first complete, printed New Testament in English, ca. A.D. 1526. Myles Coverdale followed in A.D. 1535, by delivering the first complete Bible printed in English. By A.D. 1611, the King James Version (KJV) had been completed. Since then, hundreds of translations have been made – some better, some worse. Today, the better English translations of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures include: 1) New American Standard Bible (NASB); 2) English Standard Version (ESV); and 3) New King James Version (NKJV). … [writer’s emphasis, not MacArthur’s]

The most glaring error that comes out of MacArthur’s statements above is that there are hundreds of translations which have been made – “some better, some worse” – and that God has preserved His Word (is this not an oxymoron?), but the King James Bible which has been serving Christians for 403 years (1611-2014) is not one of the “better English translations,” so common sense tells us that the preachers and theologians like Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), George Whitefield (1714-1770), Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), and Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) who’s numerous sermons and writings were extensively in KJV English were not using a “God preserved better English translation” as can be deduced from MacArthur’s reasoning. However, during these periods of time, there were some of the greatest revivals, church preaching and open-air evangelism by these men who all used the trusted King James Bible and many, many souls were won to Christ Jesus. Charles Spurgeon who is known as the “prince of preachers” was so fond of the KJV that he said regarding it that it would “never be bettered, as I judge, till Christ shall come.” [The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon (Cincinnati: Curtis and Jennings), 4:269.]

The so-called “better English translations” according to MacArthur and many other preachers and theologians, are very recent additions to the vast bible market, as can be seen from the following data:

1) NASB complete bible published in 1971 and updated in 1995, is a revision of the American Standard Version (ASV) of 1901. It was an alternative to the Revised Standard Version (1946-1952/1971), which is considered to be theologically liberal [R. Laird Harris, Inspiration and Canonicity of the Bible: An Historical and Exegetical Study. Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1969), p.58.] The OT was published in 1971 and the NT published in 1963. The NASB was published in the following stages:

• Gospel of John (1960)
• The Gospels (1962)
• New Testament (1963)
• Psalms (1968)
• Complete bible, Old and New Testaments (1971)
• Modified Editions (1972, 1973, 1975, 1977)
• Updated Edition (NASU: 1995)

In 1992, the Lockman Foundation – which copyright and trademark to the NASB text are owned by them – commissioned a limited revision of the NASB. In 1995, the Lockman Foundation reissued the NASB as the NASB Updated Edition (more commonly the Updated NASB or NASB95). Since then, it has become widely known as simply the “NASB”, supplanting the 1977 text in current printings, save for a few (Thompson Chain Reference Bibles, Open Bibles, Key Word Study Bibles, et al.) …

© The Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995.

2) ESV complete bible published in 2001 (revision in 2007 changed 500 words in grammar, consistency and clarity. This edition was issued in April 2011 and the 2007 edition has been gradually phased out), and is a revision of the 1971 edition of the Revised Standard Version (RSV). The RSV had the OT printed in 1952 and NT printed in 1946 and the RSV is a revision of the American Standard Version (ASV). The initial RSV of 1881 is the Westcott and Hort perversion of the KJV. The RSV was published in the following stages:

• New Testament (first edition) 1946 (originally copyrighted to the International Council of Religious Education)
• Old Testament (and thus the full Protestant Bible), 1952
• Apocrypha, 1957
• Modified Edition, 1962
• RSV Catholic Edition (NT 1965, Complete Bible 1966)
• New Testament (second edition), 1971
• Common Bible, 1973
• Apocrypha, expanded edition, 1977
• Second Catholic Edition, 2006
• In later years the RSV served as the basis for two revisions – the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of 1989, and the English Standard Version (ESV) of 2001

The publisher, citing that the ESV has been growing in popularity, came up with an edition of the ESV with the Biblical apocrypha included, which was developed by Oxford University Press and published in January 2009. The publisher’s hope for the new edition which includes the Apocrypha is that it will be used widely in seminaries and divinity schools where these books are used as a part of academic study. [Oxford University Press, 2012]

The ESV version of the Apocrypha is a revision of the Revised Standard Version 1977 Expanded Edition. …

© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers of Wheaton, Illinois, U.S. Apocrypha Copyright 2009 by Oxford University Press.

3) NKJV complete bible published in 1982, is a modern translation of the bible published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. (a subsidiary of HarperCollins and News Corp.). The NKJV was published in the following stages:

• The New Testament was published in 1979
• The Psalms was published in 1980
• The full bible was completed in 1982

It took a total of 7 years to complete. [“New King James Version (NKJV)” The Bible Gateway. Retrieved 2011-09-14]. The anglicized edition was originally known as the Revised Authorized Version, but the NKJV title is now used universally.

The aim of its 130 translators was to update the vocabulary and grammar of the King James Version, while preserving the classic style and literary beauty of the original 1611 KJV version. [In fact the translators failed on all accounts as they desecrated the original work by changing words that have specific reason for being there and therefore there is an adding and diminishing from the Word of God. More will be elaborated on this later. ~ writer’s note].

© 1979, 1980, 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Resources – Wikipedia

Judging by the various interchanging bibles and translations with many revisions, it is a “hotchpotch” of perversions of the Word of God. So which version is the inspired and preserved Word of God?

To set the record straight about the supposed revisions of the King James Bible, here is a quote from “NIV Omissions” by Keith Piper on page 110:

Has the KJV been Revised Four Times?

Answer: No. There have been 4 editions, but no revisions.
Critics ask, "Which King James version do you use, the 1611, 1629, 1638, 1762 or 1769 version?" Critics claim that since the KJV has been revised four times, there should be no objection to more revisions. This myth was used by Westcott and Hort in 1881 to produce the Revised Version. Printing was invented in 1450 by Gutenberg in Germany. Each letter was set one piece at a time. This was difficult and gave rise to some printing or typographical errors. Critics have found only about 400 alleged textual alterations since 1611. The 4 main editions are:

1. The 1629 edition was a correction of earlier printing errors.
2. The 1638 edition corrected 72% of the 400 printing errors. Both the 1629 and 1638 editions were two stages of the one process of correcting earlier printing errors.
3. The 1762 edition standardized the spelling.
4. The 1769 edition completed the standardizing of the spelling. These were two stages in the second process. The tale of so-called thousands of changes made in four revisions is a fraud & a lie.

Question: What is the nature of these changes?
1. Typographical changes in the 1629 and 1638 editions:
Change in the type font from Gothic (originating in Germany) to Roman type font style. Originally the printers chose the Gothic style for its beauty. In 1612 the first King James Bible was printed in Roman type font style. For example,

a) a Gothic lower case "s" at the beginning or middle of a word looks like our "f", so that "also" was written as "alfo", and "set" was written as "fet".
b) Gothic "v" was written as "u", and Gothic "u" was written as "v", so that "love" was written as "loue", "us" was written as "vs", and "ever" was written as "euer".
c) Gothic "j" was written as our "i", so that "Jesus" was written as "Iefus", and "joy" as "ioy".

Key: These are type style changes, not spelling changes. These changes account for most of the so called "thousands" of changes in the KJV, yet do no harm to the text.

2. Spelling changes in the 1762 and 1769 editions. In the 1600’s there was no such thing as correct spelling. Spelling was according to whim. Not until the 1700’s did spelling stabilize, which resulted in the KJV spelling being standardized in the 1762 and 1769 editions. Examples include,

a) "e" was added to the end of some words, such as feare, darke, beare.
b) Double vowels were common: "me", "be", "moved" were written as "mee", "bee" and "mooved".
c) Double consonants were common: "ran", "evil", "stars" were written as "ranne", "evill", "ftarres".

Key: These typographical and spelling changes account for almost all the so-called thousands of changes in the KJV. None of them alter the text as do the changes of modern versions.

3. Printer’s mistakes such as a) singular and plurals were interchanged. b) A word was miswritten for a similar word. c) A word or phrase was omitted. Examples are:

1611 Reading	Present Reading	Date
right doeth	right hand doeth	1613
of our father’s	our fathers	1616
seek good	seek God	1617
requite good	requite me good	1629
the crowned	thy crowned	1629
this book	the book	1629
this thing	this thing also	1638
now	both now	1638
And Parbar	At Parbar	1638
returned	turned	1769

These are all correction of printing errors made by weary typesetters who misread the master copy. Only 400 of these printing errors were made in the 1611 KJV. These have been corrected since.

Conclusion:

1) From 1611, there were no true revisions of updating the language or correcting translation errors in KJV. They were only typographical errors that were corrected in later editions.
2) Compare these 400 printer’s errors with the approximate 60,000 changes in NKJV, such as:
"thy voice" (KJV) to "your excuse (NKJV) (Eccles 5:6), "equity" (KJV) to "skill" (NKJV) (Eccles 2:21), "God answereth him" (KJV) to "God keeps him busy" (NKJV) (Eccles 5:20).

The NKJV is not a continuation of what happened with the KJV. It is an entirely new translation.

No copyright exists – the KJV is public domain.

What also needs to be brought to your attention is that all the modern versions of the Bible have a copyright exercised over them which even limits a person quoting from their text, where the King James Bible has no such copyright and is free for use and public domain.

Thou, Thee, Thy and Thine

The English words “thou, thee, thy and thine” are translated from an emphatic Greek and Hebrew personal pronoun, stressing the identity of the one being addressed to the exclusion of all others. A “pronoun” is a word that “stands in for” another noun or noun-phrase. A “personal pronoun” is one which stands for a person. The personal pronouns are classified as first person, second person and third person by their relationship to the one speaking.

1st Person – The speaker himself, and any others he may include as part of his group.

2nd Person – Those to whom the speaker is speaking.

3rd Person – Those about whom the speaker is speaking.

Thus, we have the following table which we can construct in English, once we differentiate between the purpose of the various pronouns:

		Nominative	Objective	Possessive
1st Person	Singular Plural	I We	Me Us	My (or Mine) Our (or Ours)
2nd Person	Singular Plural	Thou Ye	Thee You	Thy (or Thine) Your (or Yours)
3rd Person	Singular Plural	He/She/It They	Him/Her/It Them	His/Her/Its Their (or Theirs)

Verses expressing the Importance of “thou, thee, thy and thine.”

Exodus 4:15, “THOU shalt speak … I will be with THY mouth…and will teach YOU what YE shall do.” “Thou/Thy” refer to Moses himself, but “You/Ye” refer to the entire nation of Israel.

Exodus 29:42, “… I will meet YOU, to speak there unto THEE.” The “You,” referring to the children of Israel, is explained in the following verse, but “Thee” refers to Moses, who had the holy privilege of hearing the words of God directly (Leviticus 1:1).

2 Samuel 7:23, “And what one nation in the earth is like THY people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for YOU great things and terrible, for THY land, before THY people, which THOU redeemedst to THEE from Egypt.” Here David prayed to God in the second person singular, but referred to the people of Israel as “You.” What confusion could result if this important distinction were done away? It could be incorrectly thought that David was praying in part to the nation, or that the land belonged to the people and not to God.

Matthew 26:64, “Jesus saith unto him, THOU has said: nevertheless I say unto YOU, hereafter shall YE see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” “Thou” refers to the High Priest, but “You/Ye” include all those who were standing there in addition to the high priest.

Luke 5:24, “But that YE may know … say unto THEE take up THY couch, and go into THINE house.” “Ye” refers to the crowd, but “Thee/Thy/Thine” refer only to the man with palsy.

John 3:7, 11, “Marvel not that I said unto THEE, YE must be born again.” The message was spoken to the individual Nicodemus (“Thee”), but obviously has wider application to all those who desire to follow Christ (“Ye”).

John 14:9, “Have I been so long time with YOU, and yet hast THOU not known me?” The “You” refers to the crowd, but “Thou” is addressed specifically to only one man, Philip.

1 Corinthians 8:9-12, “… this liberty of YOURS … . If any man see THEE which hast knowledge … through THY knowledge … but when YE sin.” The plural forms “Yours/Ye” refer to the liberty and sin of all believers in Christ as a whole, but the singular forms “thee/thy” refer only to those individual believers that find themselves in this particular circumstance.

Surely, you will notice that replacing “thou/thee/thy/thine” with the ambiguous “you/your” does NOT clarify, but tends to muddy, the Scriptures. Just about all modern bibles replace “thou/thee/thy/thine” with the ambiguous “you/your” which converts a clear meaning passage with a vague interpretation.

/ Part 4 of 5 to follow …