Thanks for your help in explaining that.
I am only starting out with religion so please excuse my lack of knowledge of it.
Also, what about the link I posted. Is he just making things up or is there a reason for missing verses?
Thanks again
jon
Sorry, I didn’t see the video to you when I replied and I went back to see it
I think the person in the video seems to have an inadequate understanding of the Bible versions. The ASV, RSV and KJV are simply translations from the original Greek or other languages. In the translations, theological consideration and knowledge from Tradition are taken in to account to use a better word for capturing the meaning.
A well known instance is the passage in Luke “Full of Grace”. Some translations carry “Highly Favored” and other variations of it. What is important to understand is what is meant to be communicated here. The original Greek word present here was a unique word in entire Scripture and it meant a special fullness of Grace. So the best phrase that communicated this idea was picked from the English vocabulary. That being said, understandably, Protestants for an example might prefer a certain version over the other so that it helps them remove any conflicts with their beliefs.
The person in the video also seems to lack a background in biblical history and theology. To give you an example, he mentions how “Lord will give you a sign. …a woman shall bear a child” is not a sign at all because its common. To the contrary, at this time, the Israelite were in captivity and the Davidic line was considered to be lost. So the Lord was promising a child will be born in the Davidic line. This for the Israelite at that time would have been THE SIGN that God was still faithful to his covenant with them. Therefore regardless of whether the word is “Virgin” or “Woman”, the miraculous character and sign of the statement was understood by all Israelite then. The person in the video seems clueless about this.
As for the use of the word Virgin vs. Woman, the study of the text and the context and the actual word used in that text and where it appears in other places lead some to believe that the better word to be used to capture the meaning from the English would be Virgin.
Overall, I wouldn’t give much attention to that video because the person seems to be lacking in even a basic understanding of Biblical history and moreover, that each of these English versions are not even the original but a translation from the Greek.
Also should be noted, some of these versions like ASV have changed wording to be politically correct. So instead of he referencing God, it would change it to be gender neutral etc.
But other than that, as long as you are paying attention to the Church’s commentary and Sacred Tradition and reading Scripture in light of that (as we are all called to do), which version you use shouldn’t be problematic. In the case where the wording has been altered a lot, the commentary will help you understand what was changed and perhaps even identify changed that the Church had not approved.
I also recommend the
Ignatius Study Bible by Scott Hahn btw. Currently, it covers all of the New Testament and includes commentary from Church fathers and reasons for use of certain words when necessary. It is one of those books that you won’t regret buying!
