New American Standard Bible 2020 Update

The problem has never been to say all or everyone or brothers and sisters if the Greek text clearly meant and referred it to be such, but the big problem is when clearly intended times where the specific he, him, brothers, man etc suddenly get changed to the ole they us we all everyone etc!

 

My question would be, do they render "and sisters" in italics? That would be fine being remaining faithful to the Greek text. But is that what they did?

 

I figured engaged would have been more clear than betrothed, to modern ears.

 

I have reached my limit on Bible versions and editions. I have several copies of the NASB '95 and I do not see the need to add the NASB 20.

 

Given the NASB is going "gender neutral", they've obviously decided to trade literalness for political correctness. It would be naive to think that change in philosophy is limited to just gender issues.

Three strikes for the NASB:
1) Leaving literalness.
2) Imposing non-Christian values on the Bible.
3) Joining the trend of continually updated translations, making the NASB a poor choice for memorization.

Best Bibles for memorization (including indirect memorization through study):
1) KJV: It'll never change in your lifetime.
2) NKJV: Conservative and modern English. There's no indication that there will be a significant change in your lifetime.
3) ESV: Conservative and modern English. Has been changed little after it was first published in 2007. The ESV publisher announced they intended to leave the text alone in the future, calling a very minor 2016 update, "ESV Permanent Text Edition."

The NASB use to be part of this very short list. Given the lack of updates for over two decades, and the conservative/literal nature of the NASB, it looked like they were going to leave the text alone. But, noooooo. You don't want to memorize something that could be out-of-print tomorrow. And, it's helpful to find specific verses if they've stayed worded the same way.

 

The ESV Permanent Text stance didn’t last long.

Crossway Reverses Decision to Make ESV Bible Text Permanent

 

Well, the rapidity with which "WORD" meanings are being revised by our progressive friends(?), we probably need an up-dated translation at least every 10-12 months!
(I'm sure y'all remember when GAY was an adjective & meant "happy, jubilant, bubbly personality etc." I'm telling my age now!)

 

Yes, apparently a lot of people disapproved of making the text permanent. That's disappointing. But, Crossway still insists their "updates will be minimal and infrequent", which still makes the ESV a better choice than anything since the NKJV regarding stability and resisting future political correcting..

 

I agree with Just Ahead. I frequently use the NASV 95, along with the NKJV. The NEW NASV departs from the literality of earlier editions. Shoulda left well enough alone!

 

Yep. Being the most literal was always what NASB prided itsself on. Now it's just one of the rest of the translations.

 

The NASB95 is the best at presenting a literal translation. Yes, you must use the footnotes and insert the footnoted literal translation, and remove the italicized words if they alter the meaning. Naturally it has flaws, where other literal versions do a better job on occasion. I like the idea of replacing brethren when the reference is to fellow believers of either gender with siblings.

I may be wrong, but I thought the ESV had been updated several times, making it less useful for memorization than the NASB95. The ESV was published in 2001, updated in 2007, 2011, and again in 2016

I agree with the blogger, replacing "O Man" with "O Mortal" would be better than "a human."

 

Lexham English Bible is pretty literal.

 

On the issue of Gender it depends where they make it neutral. Example in 1 Thess. 5:14:

That being said, I prefer to keep it just brother/brothers/etc but it's not outside realm of good translation.

 

The NASB team was probably looking at the much greater sales of a half dozen other translations..

 

As Reynolds pointed out, the NASB is becoming one of the rest of the translations.

As a new translation, a few updates is to be expected, to fix errors. The 2016 ESV update made a piddly 52 word changes (and that was before they announced a permanent text). Stability of text is a very important quality for me, which is one of my favorite things about the KJV.

"O man" is in Romans 2:1 and other places. "O man" sounds best, and is literal if "man" is taken inclusively. "O human" is literal. "A human" is a mistranslation. Most modern translations, including the NIV, CSB, and even the supposedly literal NASB, just drop this out of the text. The ESV, and KJV-related Bibles keep it, saying, "O man".

 

It has been asserted that the 2020 revision of the NASB will result in it being no more literal than many other versions. But no evidence has been offered.
It was claimed "O Man" was dropped out of the NASB text, but sure enough the "O Man" is provided by a footnote.

 

So what if NASB95 has "O man" is in the footnotes, of Romans 2:1. Footnotes are worthless most of the time. It belongs in the main text. The NASB2020 apparently puts it back in the main text, except as the paraphrase "you foolish person", which is far from literal.

NASB 2020 Changing 1 Thessalonians 5:14 from "We urge you, brethren..." to "We urge you, brothers and sisters" is not the act of someone with a priority on literalism. Yeah, "brothers" will be in the footnotes, so what.

The ESV gets these verses right, and isn't going to change.

 

Footnotes are essential in my opinion. Check out the NET footnotes. They are one of the best things about that version. I agree, it would be better to put the literal rendering in the main text and footnote the "interpretive" translation alternative. And I agree, brothers and sisters points to a distinction not in the text, that is why "siblings" is a better choice.

Yes, the ESV does a better job or an equivalent job with many verses, but butchers way more than the NASB does in my opinion. James 25, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, and Revelation 13:8.

 

Yes, footnotes are essential. But, most people never read them, even if they have them. And, unless its your Bible in hand, you won't have the footnotes to read (e.g. verses quoted by the pastor, or printed in study guides).

"Siblings" is a godless and false translation when he Greek word means Brothers.

The NASB publishers have watched the sales of their translation tank, so they've decided to join the NIV, NLT, and CSB, moving in the direction of paraphrases that brings in a lot of godless values and doctrines which are popular among consumer-grade nominal Christians.