The Nugget:
Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (KJV)
Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever. (WEB, World English Bible)
My Comment:
A question came up in an on-line discussion. If we do not have the exact words in the language Jesus spoke them, how do we know what He really said?
The conversation began with this question:
“if bible has all the witnesses, why they had to revise it so many times and 2000 years later still so many different opinions ?”
My Answer:
Bible “revisions” are made periodically so that those who read the Bible in their own language can understand the Bible better. Modern languages change over time. Many readers of the Bible today understand its message better when reading it in a modern English translation.
There are many different “opinions” about what the Bible means or says. Careful study of the Bible will correct most of the mistaken opinions, possibly all of the mistaken opinions. There are rules of interpretation that apply to all written and spoken communication. Mistaken interpretations can be identified because mistaken interpretations violate those rules.
Reply to my comment:
KJV revised 5 times, all English
which is from Jesus ?
Anyone can add or delete any part of it ?
My reply:
The King James Version of the Bible has been revised as many times as it has been to reflect changes in the English language which has changed over the years since 1611 when it was first published.
Revisions also reflect the fact that since 1611 many additional manuscripts of the New Testament have been found. Combining these findings, we now have a more accurate Greek text to work from than the King James translators did.
As for the varying count of how many books are or belong in the Bible, the answer is simple: the Bible contains 66 books. There are 27 primary source first century historical documents which make up the New Testament. There are 39 books in the Hebrew Old Testament as used by the Jews in Israel and our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles. Other books included with the Bible by some faith communities are of historical or religious interest but are not counted as divinely inspired Scripture.
Reply to my comment:
if you don’t have the original words that Jesus used, how you can verify accuracy of translation ?
My Answer:
We do have the original words that Jesus used. We have them recorded in the New Testament. Many Bible readers do not realize that Jesus was multi-lingual. He could speak in Greek as well as Aramaic. We know this because Jesus used Figures of Speech as He taught. Those Figures of Speech “work” in Greek but not in Aramaic. This is why careful scholars understand that the Gospel of Matthew, for example, was originally written in Greek, and is not “translation Greek” from another language such as Aramaic.
There seems to be a logical fallacy in the idea that since we supposedly have only the translated words of Jesus, we don’t have the exact words that He spoke. But if we have the translated words, those words reflect what was said in the original language itself. Therefore, with careful study, using the advanced tools we have today, we can get back to what was said in the original language in any case.
Reply to my answer:
every Christian claims to have it but none can give me the link of the original bible
My reply:
If you mean by “original” Bible the original autographs penned by the authors, of course no one today has any of those.
The evidence that we have extremely accurate copies of the originals is that for the New Testament we have ancient manuscripts and manuscript fragments of the 27 first century New Testament writings. When the oldest copies are compared with handwritten copies from later centuries there are no significant differences.
Among the Dead Sea Scrolls there were found manuscript copies and manuscript fragments of all the Old Testament books except the book of Esther. The extreme care and accuracy of the copying process used over many centuries is evident by the fact that there are no significant differences between the Hebrew manuscripts used by the Qumran group which produced, used, and subsequently hid them and the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible used today.
Therefore, all of us can easily obtain a copy of the Bible in our own language or even in Hebrew and Greek should we wish. Our present day copies are so accurate that there is really no concern about their being precisely equivalent to the autographs because they are.
I like to suggest to anyone and everyone that to understand the Bible, take time to read it for yourself.
I suggest that a good practice is to read the New Testament long enough each day (for a total of 20 minutes a day) and often enough each week (at least four days a week) on a continuing basis so that you get the full benefit of the help this will be to your life.
greetings jerry thank you for sharing Isaiah 40.8 it is encouraging verse and i like
cross refs also. Matt 24.35 Heaven and earth shall pass away. but my words shall not
pass away. John 10.35 The scripture cannot be broken. 1 Peter 1.24-25 The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. 25 But the word of God endureth forever And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.