To NASB or not to NASB
When it comes to bible translations I am an advocate of the ESV, NASB and the NKJV. All are good literal English translations, as is the KJV if you are into the often claimed rhythmic flow of the 1611 English and the arguable value of plural distinctions between pronouns. I do also own an NIV and a CSB but not for the translation value itself but more so due to the value I find in the study notes from the particular Editors of those specific versions.
Our Church favors the ESV in both the classroom and at the pulpit. For that reason, and others, I have been partial to the ESV for several years. A few months back I started to read the NASB at home and then proceeded to bring one to church. This has been a helpful exercise for me because, when the ESV and NASB differ in their rendering of a word, it encourages me to reference the Greek or Hebrew to evaluate what the authors true meaning and intention of the word may have been.
One example of this in Psalm 46. As has been my habit of late, I had my NASB with me. at church In the ESV which was being read from the pulpit, as well as most English translations, Psalm 46:10 is rendered as “be still and know that I am God”. While there is certainly nothing incorrect about this translation choice, looking to the Hebrew shows the word ‘rapa which in my reading carries a far weightier meaning:
- Strongs h7503: ‘rapa’ ; abate, to sink down, be disheartened, weak, faint, forsake or cease.
Later in the exegesis, the Pastor did comment on the fact that “be still” as rendered in the ESV was arguably not fully capturing the intended meaning. However, the NASB has already tipped me off to this by using “cease striving” as the translation choice for ‘rapa’. I believe ‘cease striving’ not only better captures the meaning of ‘rapa to a fuller extent, it captures the intent of the passage as meant by the author in the context of verse 9.
This is not to say the NASB is superior to the ESV or any other ‘trustworthy’ English translation. There are also instances in which the ESV or NKJV, at times, has better captured the meaning of the original language (in my opinion and reception) than the NASB. In the case of an exegetical study on Judges, I found many times the NASB rendering of a word resonated with me more clearly while in some cases the ESV was more clear.
As I look more into translations I find myself wanting to study the Greek and Hebrew. There is no better way to get a direct meaning of the word than to go to the original language. It is this reason that I am so grateful for Lexicons and study tools such as Strongs, Kittel, Vines, Eerdmans, and Interlinear bibles.
While I do not plan to abandon the ESV, I do believe I will continue to use the NASB often for the reasons I stated above. One other observation is the translation choice in the 2011 updated ESV for Genesis 3:16:
- To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” [NASB]
- To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” [ESV]
- wə·’el- ’î·šêḵ tə·šū·qā·ṯêḵ, (hebrew transliterated and reversed LTR) which would very literally translate to “for man your desire” or transliterated for English readability “for your Husband your desire shall be”.
Assuming the Strongs Concordance and the Kittel Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament are correct, what is written in Hebrew seems in no way to warrant the use of ‘contrary’. This additional word was not present in the initial publication of the ESV but rather was added in the 2011 revision.
Now there are numerous translation differences in the ESV and NASB that are fairly inconsequential, such as “steadfastlove” in the ESV translated “lovingkindness” in the NASB or “make a joyful noise” translated as “shout joyfully” in the NASB.
Here are a few example verse comparisons of the ESV to NASB. As you may see, and as mentioned previously, I personally find that neither hits the original language better than the other %100 of the time:
| Verse | ESV | NASB |
| Romans 8:38-39 | “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” | “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” |
| Ephesians 5:2 | “and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” | “and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” |
| Romans 5:8 | but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” | “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” |
| Proverbs 29:23 | “One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. | “A person’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.” |
| Ephesians 2:12 | “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” | “remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” |
| Psalm 20:7 | Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. | “Some praise their chariots and some their horses, But we will praise the name of the Lord, our God.” |
| Exodus 15:13 | “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.” | “In Your faithfulness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; In Your strength You have guided them to Your holy habitation.” |
| John 4:24 | “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” | “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” |
| Psalm 46:10a | “Be still, and know that I am God.” | “Cease striving and know that I am God; |
| Judges 19:22-23 | As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.” And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing. | While they were celebrating, behold, the men of the city, certain worthless fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door; and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house that we may have relations with him.” Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my fellows, please do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not commit this act of folly. |
One additional observation is that in Revelation 13:8 the ESV chose to translate the word ‘apo’ [strongs g0575] as “before”. Several other verses that use the English word ‘before’ do so because of the original Greek word ‘pro’ [strongs g4253] which as you are probably aware, when used as a preposition, unarguably means ‘before, superior or in front of. ‘apo’ on the other hand is shown to more closely represent ‘from’. So my question is why did the ESV translate ‘apo’ one way in Rev 13:8 and another in Rev 17:8?
| Verse | ESV | NASB |
| Revelation 13:8 | and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before [apo]the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. | All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from [apo] the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. |
| Revelation 17:8 | The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from [apo] the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. | “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from [apo] the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. |
As you may have noticed all of the pop-up references on this site are ESV. This is because Crossway is a more modern company than Lockman and provides tools necessary to allow such auto referencing directly from their database. I also prefer the ESV for my children from a readability and continuity standpoint. As someone who does not know Greek or Hebrew, having two trustworthy English translations that at times differ, motivates, or even compels me, to look further into the original text. Searching every verse of scripture is what we are called to do as Christians.
if you are looking for a modern English translation I would strongly suggest you stick with either NASB, ESV or NKJV as all 3 are accurate and readable “formal equivalent” translations. As mentioned earlier I do own functional equivalent translations in the form of an NIV Study Bible, editor D.A Carson, and a CSB Study Bible with Charles Spurgeon commentary but only use these for their commentary and study resources.
There are other English versions that claim to be formal equivalent, literal or word for word but we need to remember that no English bible can be fully literal. Translating indicative verbs as indicative, participles as participles and idioms and idioms is surely possible but there are far too many words in both Greek and Hebrew where there is no direct word or even words available in English.
One last thing to be aware of are versions that use gender-neutral translation principles. The NRSV is an example of this. While I personally see no issue translating “brother” as “brothers and sisters”, or ‘people’ as opposed to ‘man’ when the Greek or Hebrew is clearly making a reference to ‘mankind’ or ‘all of us’. Where it gets questionable is the use of gender-neutral pronouns where the original language is clearly gendered specific.
Another consideration with an NRSV type translation is when Jesus is speaking but the pronouns are changed to the plural as opposed to singular (ex John 14:23). This obscures the personal intimacy that is present in the original words Jesus spoke. While I am in no way attempting to minimize the fact that Jesus’ statement is applicable to both men and women, I think it important not to change the words of our Lord in a way that is not congruent with his intention. Because the word of God will not return void, I trust that anyone female reading scripture who is indwelt with the Holy Spirit will not get hung up on the pronoun ‘him’ but rather see and appreciate the intended intimacy in Jesus’ words and know that this statement applies to her as much as it does to a ‘him’!
Whichever translation you prefer I hope you choose it prayerfully and most importantly be sure to read it daily with an eager mind, grateful disposition, and a contrite heart so that one can discover more about God, more about themselves and more about their Savior.
Sola Gratia!
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