What bible do you trust most, and which one do you trust least?

[The Liturgist]

What bible do you trust most, and which one do you trust least?

Among contemporary English-language translations, I trust the Orthodox Study Bible the most, due to its use of the Septuagint and the NKJV, which is broadly speaking based on the Textus Receptus which is in alignment with the Byzantine Text Type which I think is more reliable than the “Minority Text” or Alexandrian Text Type.

Conversely, I have the least amount of trust for the New World “translation” of the J/Ws and the NRSVue, because they, for reasons of a theological agenda, distort passages (the New World “translation” rewrites John 1:1 to support the Arianism of the J/Ws), while the NRSVue rewrites St. Paul in a manner which seems a transparent attempt to reduce the impact of his words concerning the immorality of sodomy.

 

[The Liturgist]

Hey, we both agree on the NKJV being the Greatest of All Time (GOAT), but don't knock the apocryphal books of the other Bible versions. This is one of my favorite verses of the Septuagint, only found in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles.

Sirach 2:4-7 (NRSV-CE): "Accept whatever befalls you, and in times of humiliation be patient. For gold is tested in the fire, and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation. Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him."

Sirach 2:4-7 encourages us to accept the challenges and humiliations that come our way with patience and trust in God. It also emphasizes the importance of trusting in God and making our ways straight. By doing so, we can be refined as a metal in a kiln and eventually come out stronger and more faithful to God.

From God's Desires > Our Desires devotional:

God’s Desires > Our Desires

Whew, it has been a while since using Sirach (Catholic Bible book) in a devotional, but here we are guys. Today's devotional focuses on how we must put God's desires and plans above our own. Date July 3, 2024 | God’s Desires > Our Desires Verse Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV): "Trust in the Lord...

www.christianforums.com

You might enjoy the Orthodox Study Bible, which combines the NKJV New Testament with a translation of the Septuagint for the Old Testament, which naturally includes Sirach. I myself also love Wisdom, which was the most recently compiled book of the Old Testament, but its wisdom is attributed to St. Solomon, which seems probable. It contains a direct prophecy of the Crucifixion in chapter 2.

Some books that you regard as Deuterocanonical are not only Protocanonical in the Orthodox church, but are more important in our worship than some books considered Protocanonical.

By the way, the original KJV, which I prefer to the NKJV on stylistic grounds, does include Sirach (referring to it as Ecclesiasticus) and most of the other Catholic books, only most publishers omit the deuterocanonical books, but they were included in the KJV, so any full version of it will have those books, because the Church of England uses them.

 

[The Liturgist]

I like the NASB because it is written in a more modern format and is very close to a literal translation without added interpretation which is one of the biggest things I dislike about the KJV. The KJV has too many interpretations inserted into it rather than just a literal translation from Hebrew or Greek to English. But probably the version I dislike the most would be the NWT New World Translation because it’s been intentionally interpreted incorrectly to support Jehovah’s Witness theology.

I hadn’t noticed any interpretations in the KJV. Indeed, it was specifically composed without inline commentary, so as to be able to replace the Geneva Bible in use in Scotland which did have inline commentary, as King James I and his son St. Charles I, the Martyr ( my friend @tampasteve is involved in a group which promotes his memory ), sought to unify the Church of England and the Church of Scotland, by converting the Scots from Presbyterianism to Anglicanism, which unfortunately was not entirely successful.

 

[The Liturgist]

Oh, I’ve thought of one which is worse than the New World Translation - the Jefferson Bible, in which Thomas Jefferson took the four Gospels, combined them into one, and erased all sections that pertained to the deity of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ or which mentioned Him performing any miracles.

 

[BNR32FAN]

I hadn’t noticed any interpretations in the KJV. Indeed, it was specifically composed without inline commentary, so as to be able to replace the Geneva Bible in use in Scotland which did have inline commentary, as King James I and his son St. Charles I, the Martyr ( my friend @tampasteve is involved in a group which promotes his memory ), sought to unify the Church of England and the Church of Scotland, by converting the Scots from Presbyterianism to Anglicanism, which unfortunately was not entirely successful.

Well they changed 2 Samuel 21:19 from Elhanan to David for one thing. I know that they did that because of 1 Chronicles 20:5 but maybe 2 Samuel 21:19 was talking about a different Goliath. They also changed the term morning star to satan I can’t remember the verse. I just prefer a more literal translation to the original texts than getting interpretations injected into it.

 

[Sunflower39]

I think the NKJV is the best.

 

[Offline4Better.]

You might enjoy the Orthodox Study Bible, which combines the NKJV New Testament with a translation of the Septuagint for the Old Testament, which naturally includes Sirach.

Thank you for your recommendation.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

I think the NKJV is the best.

It's hard to read Tobit or Wisdom in the NKJV

 

[Offline4Better.]

It's hard to read Tobit or Wisdom in the NKJV

How about we say the NKJV and the NRSV-CE are equally good books, with different strengths and weaknesses.

Yes, I am that guy who likes bringing peace between both sides.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

How about we say the NKJV and the NRSV-CE are equally good books, with different strengths and weaknesses.

Yes, I am that guy who likes bringing peace between both sides.

I use the RSV-CE and get the best of both. Mind you, in the electronic RSV-CE I edit thee, art, didst and so forth to their modern equivalents.

 

[Offline4Better.]

I use the RSV-CE and get the best of both. Mind you, in the electronic RSV-CE I edit thee, art, didst and so forth to their modern equivalents.

That is a good idea. So, the electronic version has a system to automatically replace the older words with newer ones?

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

That is a good idea. So, the electronic version has a system to automatically replace the older words with newer ones?

I write a script in Python to read and correct the words in a list that I created. It makes life easy. I call the output file RSB instead of RSV. I also, for interest's sake replaced the LORD with YHWH. I may return it to the LORD on my next edit.

 

[Offline4Better.]

I write a script in Python to read and correct the words in a list that I created. It makes life easy. I call the output file RSB instead of RSV. I also, for interest's sake replaced the LORD with YHWH. I may return it to the LORD on my next edit.

Nice. Python is a pretty cool programming language. Did you use a .TXT file, or what file format were the Bibles (by the way, I have never used Python for word processing, only for physics class)?

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

Nice. Python is a pretty cool programming language. Did you use a .TXT file, or what file format were the Bibles (by the way, I have never used Python for word processing, only for physics class)?

It is a TXT file but in Java ".properties" format (key=value). it is a work in progress, it is available in my IRC bible bot.

 

[Offline4Better.]

It is a TXT file but in Java ".properties" format (key=value). it is a work in progress, it is available in my IRC bible bot.

Interesting stuff. I do not know anything about that, as I only used import numpy as np in class.

 

[JesusFollowerForever]

Nice. So, AMP is basically a Bible with built-in commentary? I like the concept, but prefer commentary to be at the bottom of the page, or off to the side.

For myself, I use artificial intelligence for exposition, as in making 80% of my devotionals. The other 20% from my life experience.

This is Mistral 7B (a locally run AI) analyzing four Bible passages which will be used in a devotional later this evening:
View attachment 353414

I must warn you about AI once again, do not fall for it, I say this because I like (LOVE) you, you are a very nice person, please do not embrace AI, I fear it will be the beast announced, I have researched it and it could be. As before I said, be wise, your intellect is far superior to ANY AI. Use discernment.

One of the things I learned recently is that AI is does consume so much power that that Amazon plan build a small nuclear power plant to power it's own?

Did you know that the World economic forum (WEF) have a plan to rewrite the Bible using AI?

False claim WEF wants to use AI to write new Bible that is 'correct' | Fact check

A professor's interview warning of the risks of AI is being misrepresented as the World Economic Forum endorsing having AI write a new Bible.

www.usatoday.com

The WEF have infiltrated most of the main countries on earth, out PM, in Canada is a WEF brainwashed puppet. So are many of the ministers.

look:
Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

combine modern robotics and AI and you will have the image of the beast.

Peace friend, be careful with this tool that in truth ,is wrong very often so much so that there was a warning recently on chat GPT telling users that chat GPT does mistakes... Use it wisely!

I will not speak of it again to you, no worries.

BLessings.

 

[Offline4Better.]

I must warn you about AI once again, do not fall for it, I say this because I like (LOVE) you, you are a very nice person, please do not embrace AI, I fear it will be the beast announced, I have researched it and it could be. As before I said, be wise, your intellect is far superior to ANY AI. Use discernment.

One of the things I learned recently is that AI is does consume so much power that that Amazon plan build a small nuclear power plant to power it's own?

Did you know that the World economic forum (WEF) have a plan to rewrite the Bible using AI?

False claim WEF wants to use AI to write new Bible that is 'correct' | Fact check

A professor's interview warning of the risks of AI is being misrepresented as the World Economic Forum endorsing having AI write a new Bible.

www.usatoday.com

The WEF have infiltrated most of the main countries on earth, out PM, in Canada is a WEF brainwashed puppet. So are many of the ministers.

look:
Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

combine modern robotics and AI and you will have the image of the beast.

Peace friend, be careful with this tool that in truth ,is wrong very often so much so that there was a warning recently on chat GPT telling users that chat GPT does mistakes... Use it wisely!

I will not speak of it again to you, no worries.

BLessings.

Thank you for the warning. I will be careful with AI, and will only use free and local AI such as Mistral 7B, cos I do not trust ChatGPT. Also, I do feel that AI will be used in the End Times. Of what type, I am not sure. Musk's technology might take a play in this future.

 

[RileyG]

@The Liturgist What's your opinion on the Peshitta which is used by Oriental Orthodox and even some Maronite Catholics?

I would love to own one, but I don't know where to order it.

Blessings

 

[The Liturgist]

@The Liturgist What's your opinion on the Peshitta which is used by Oriental Orthodox and even some Maronite Catholics?

I would love to own one, but I don't know where to order it.

Blessings

I love the Peshitta. I don’t know of a good translation of the Peshitta Old Testament, but there are two interesting translations of the New Testament from the 19th century in the public domain: the Etheridge Bible and the Murdoch Bible, which were translated from the Eastern Peshitta and the Western Peshitto, respectively. I really like the effort both Victorian translators made, and of the traditional language versions of the Bible, they are particularly interesting.

Note that I say this in the context of an Orthodox understanding of the Bible. I regard the Peshitta as Orthodox because the Syriac Orthodox jurisdictions in the Middle East and in India use it, the Assyrian Church of the East uses it, the Maronite Catholics use it, at least formally (unfortunately Syriac is only a liturgical language among the Maronites, whereas some Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholics and many members of the Assyrian Church of the East still speak vernacular Aramaic dialects) and it has never been an issue in ecumenical dialogue between any of these churches. Indeed, the relationship between the Syriac Orthodox (OO) and Antiochian Orthodox (EO) churches is particularly warm.

One thing I am opposed to is Peshitta primacy, which is a discredited idea popularized by men like George Lamsa, that the Peshitta was the original version of the New Testament, which is in error - while it is true there is an Aramaic substrate to the New Testament, which we find in the form of quotations of our Lord speaking Aramaic, which interestingly in the Peshitta are not translated, since they are intelligible enough in Syriac, the philological evidence shows that the canonical New Testament was written in Greek, and we know the Peshitta New Testament to be a fourth century translation of 22 books, with the Western Peshitta taking the additional five books of the Athanasian canon from a subsequent translation by the Syriac Orthodox St. Thomas of Harqel.

 

[RileyG]

I love the Peshitta. I don’t know of a good translation of the Peshitta Old Testament, but there are two interesting translations of the New Testament from the 19th century in the public domain: the Etheridge Bible and the Murdoch Bible, which were translated from the Eastern Peshitta and the Western Peshitto, respectively. I really like the effort both Victorian translators made, and of the traditional language versions of the Bible, they are particularly interesting.

Note that I say this in the context of an Orthodox understanding of the Bible. I regard the Peshitta as Orthodox because the Syriac Orthodox jurisdictions in the Middle East and in India use it, the Assyrian Church of the East uses it, the Maronite Catholics use it, at least formally (unfortunately Syriac is only a liturgical language among the Maronites, whereas some Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholics and many members of the Assyrian Church of the East still speak vernacular Aramaic dialects) and it has never been an issue in ecumenical dialogue between any of these churches. Indeed, the relationship between the Syriac Orthodox (OO) and Antiochian Orthodox (EO) churches is particularly warm.

One thing I am opposed to is Peshitta primacy, which is a discredited idea popularized by men like George Lamsa, that the Peshitta was the original version of the New Testament, which is in error - while it is true there is an Aramaic substrate to the New Testament, which we find in the form of quotations of our Lord speaking Aramaic, which interestingly in the Peshitta are not translated, since they are intelligible enough in Syriac, the philological evidence shows that the canonical New Testament was written in Greek, and we know the Peshitta New Testament to be a fourth century translation of 22 books, with the Western Peshitta taking the additional five books of the Athanasian canon from a subsequent translation by the Syriac Orthodox St. Thomas of Harqel.

Thanks!