Legacy Standard Bible

Last updated
Legacy Standard Bible
AbbreviationLSB
NT  publishedFebruary 2021
Complete Bible
published
November 2021
Derived from New American Standard Bible (1995)
Textual basis
[1]
Translation type Formal equivalence
Reading level10.0
Publisher Three Sixteen Publishing, The Lockman Foundation
CopyrightLegacy Standard Bible
Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation
A Corporation Not for Profit
La Habra, California
All Rights Reserved
www.lockman.org
Webpage www.lsbible.org
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. [2]
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. [2]

The Legacy Standard Bible (LSB) is an English translation of the Bible that was released in 2021. It is an update to the New American Standard Bible Updated Edition (NASB 1995), with permission from the Lockman Foundation, as an alternative to the 2020 Revision of the NASB. The LSB was produced and edited by a team of faculty from The Master's Seminary and is published by Three Sixteen Publishing, Inc., in partnership with the Lockman Foundation and with funding from the John MacArthur Charitable Trust.

Contents

Translation philosophy

The LSB is a direct update of the NASB 1995 edition that "honors and upholds the NASB tradition, and endeavors to more fully implement its translation philosophy." [3] The translators of the LSB used the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek sources to review every verse in the translation for accuracy. Any changes made in the LSB from the NASB 1995 were made for "greater consistency in word usage, accuracy in grammatical structure, and tightening phrasing." [3] If no update for a verse was deemed necessary, the text was left identical to what was in the NASB 1995.

The Hebrew text used for this translation was the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia together with the most recent insights from lexicography, cognate languages, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. For Greek, the 27th edition of Eberhard Nestle's Novum Testamentum Graece , supplemented by the 28th edition in the General Epistles, was used as the base text while consulting the Society of Biblical Literature GNT as well as the Tyndale House GNT on variant texts. [1] The greatest strength of the NASB was its reliability and fidelity to the original languages, and the LSB seeks to be an improvement upon it "while simultaneously preserving its faithful legacy." [3]

YHWH

One significant departure from the NASB 1995 is the rendering of the tetragrammaton YHWH (rendered as "Jehovah" in the original ASV). The NASB rendered it as "LORD" or "GOD" in all capitals, but the LSB renders it as "Yahweh" or "Yah" depending on the original, underlying Hebrew usage. The stated reason for this change was as follows:

In the LSB, God’s covenant name is rendered as Yahweh, as opposed to LORD. The meaning and implication of this name is God’s self-deriving, ongoing, and never-ending existence. Exodus 3:14–15 shows that God Himself considered it important for His people to know His name. The effect of revealing God's name is His distinction from other gods and His expression of intimacy with the nation of Israel. Such a dynamic is a prevalent characteristic of the Scriptures as Yahweh appears in the OT over 6,800 times. In addition to Yahweh, the full name of God, the OT also includes references to God by a shorter version of His name, Yah. By itself, God’s name "Yah" may not be as familiar, but the appearance of it is recognizable in Hebrew names and words (e.g. Zechar-iah, meaning Yah remembers, and Hallelu-jah, meaning praise Yah!). God’s shortened name “Yah” is predominantly found in poetry and praise. [1]

Doulos

Another significant translation in the LSB is the Greek word doulos, which the LSB always renders as "slave". This is opposed to many other modern English Bible translations that render it as "servant". [4] The LSB translators defended this decision for consistency as follows:

The NT has a variety of terms that refer to the individuals who serve under the authority of another. Doulos denotes a very specific form of servitude: slavery. The NT uses doulos to describe an individual who is totally subordinate to a master (cf. Matt 8:9; 24:46; 2 Pet 2:19) and even owned by that master (Philem 16-19), in contrast to one who is freed (Gal 3:28). For this reason, the NASB already translated the vast majority of this term as slave. The LSB made this consistent, which brings out how believers are to relate to Christ. He is our Lord and master (2 Cor 4:5), and we are His slaves (Rom 1:1; Phil 1:1). This underscores His great redemption in buying believers from slavery to sin (Rom 6:16). This also underscores the believer’s absolute surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 6:16-17). A consistent translation of doulos, in effect, sharpens the very nature of the Christian life. [1]

Pronouns Referring to God

One of the distinctive features of the NASB was that all pronouns referring to God were capitalized. The LSB has preserved this decision to capitalize all pronouns referring to God and, by extension, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. For example, in John 3:16, the LSB says, "For God so loved the world, that He [God] gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him [God's Son, Jesus] shall not perish, but have eternal life" (emphasis added). [3] The LSB translators explained the benefits of this decision, stating that "Capitalization aids in two main ways. First, it is a way to show honor to God who is greater than man. Second, it helps the reader track with the author, making clear exactly to whom the pronoun refers." [1]

Translators

The translation work was done by a group of scholars from The Master's Seminary and was sponsored by the John MacArthur Charitable Trust in partnership with the Lockman Foundation. [5] The LSB website states that it "also went through an extensive review process from a team that consists of scholars and pastors from all around the world" and "was reviewed by a team of 70+ scholars, pastors, and every-day NASB readers... [to ensure] readers from all walks of life can easily engage and interact with the text." [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Names of God in Judaism</span> Jewish God names

Judaism considers some names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased: YHWH, Adonai, El ("God"), Elohim, Shaddai ("Almighty"), and Tzevaot ; some also include Ehyeh. Early authorities considered other Hebrew names mere epithets or descriptions of God and wrote that they and names in other languages may be written and erased freely. However, some moderns advise special care even in these cases, and many Orthodox Jews have adopted the chumras of writing "G-d" instead of "God" in English or saying Ṭēt-Vav instead of Yōd-Hē for the number fifteen or Ṭēt-Zayin instead of Yōd-Vav for the number sixteen in Hebrew.

Jah or Yah is a short form of יהוה (YHWH), the four letters that form the tetragrammaton, the personal name of God: Yahweh, which the ancient Israelites used. The conventional Christian English pronunciation of Jah is, even though the letter J here transliterates the palatal approximant. The spelling Yah is designed to make the pronunciation explicit in an English-language context, especially for Christians who may not use Hebrew regularly during prayer and study.

New American Standard Bible English translation of the Bible

The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is an English translation of the Christian Bible. Published by the Lockman Foundation, the first NASB text—a translation of the Gospel of John—was released in 1960. The NASB New Testament was released in 1963. The complete NASB Bible was released in 1971. The NASB is a revision of the American Standard Version (ASV).

Holman Christian Standard Bible Modern English Bible translation

The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) is a modern English Bible translation from Holman Bible Publishers. The New Testament was published in 1999, followed by the full Bible in March 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Names of God</span> Forms of address or reference to the deity of a religion

There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word god is used by multiple religions as a noun to refer to different deities, or specifically to the Supreme Being, as denoted in English by the capitalized and uncapitalized terms God and god. Ancient cognate equivalents for the biblical Hebrew Elohim, one of the most common names of God in the Bible, include proto-Semitic El, biblical Aramaic Elah, and Arabic 'ilah. The personal or proper name for God in many of these languages may either be distinguished from such attributes, or homonymic. For example, in Judaism the tetragrammaton is sometimes related to the ancient Hebrew ehyeh. In the Hebrew Bible, YHWH, the personal name of God, is revealed directly to Moses. Correlation between various theories and interpretation of the name of "the one God", used to signify a monotheistic or ultimate Supreme Being from which all other divine attributes derive, has been a subject of ecumenical discourse between Eastern and Western scholars for over two centuries. In Christian theology the word is considered a personal and a proper name of God. On the other hand, the names of God in a different tradition are sometimes referred to by symbols. The question whether divine names used by different religions are equivalent has been raised and analyzed.

Hallelujah is an interjection used as an expression of gratitude and adoration. The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible, twice in deuterocanonical books, and four times in the Christian Book of Revelation.

<i>Jerusalem Bible</i> 1966 Catholic English translation of the Bible

The Jerusalem Bible is an English translation of the Bible published in 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes 73 books: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonical books as the Old Testament, and the 27 books shared by all Christians as the New Testament. It also contains copious footnotes and introductions.

<i>New Jerusalem Bible</i> 1985 Catholic English translation of the Bible

The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is an English-language translation of the Bible published in 1985 by Darton, Longman and Todd and Les Editions du Cerf, edited by Benedictine biblical scholar Henry Wansbrough, and approved for use in study and personal devotion by members of the Catholic Church.

Theophory is the practice of embedding the name of a god or a deity in, usually, a proper name. Much Hebrew theophory occurs in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. The most prominent theophory involves names referring to:

An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the Ugaritic mother goddess Asherah, consort of El. The relation of the literary references to an asherah and archaeological finds of Judaean pillar-figurines has engendered a literature of debate.

Yahshua is a proposed transliteration of יהושוע‎, the original Hebrew name of Jesus. The pronunciation Yahshua is philologically impossible in the original Hebrew and has no support in archeological findings, such as the Dead Sea scrolls or inscriptions, nor in rabbinical texts as a form of Joshua. Scholarship generally considers the original form of Jesus to be Yeshua, a Hebrew Bible form of Joshua.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jehovah</span> Vocalization of the divine name YHWH

Jehovah is a Latinization of the Hebrew יְהֹוָהYəhōwā, one vocalization of the Tetragrammaton יהוה (YHWH), the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. The Tetragrammaton יהוה is considered one of the seven names of God in Judaism and one of the names of God in Christianity.

The Lockman Foundation is a nonprofit, interdenominational Christian ministry dedicated to the translation, publication, and distribution of Bibles and other biblical resources in English and other languages. The foundation’s core products are the New American Standard Bible and the Amplified Bible, both evolving from the 1901 American Standard Version. By 2009, the foundation had distributed about 25 million Bibles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetragrammaton</span> Four-letter Hebrew name of the national god of Israel

The Tetragrammaton, or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym יהוה‎, the name of God in Judaism and Christianity. The four letters, written and read from right to left, are yodh, he, waw, and he. The name may be derived from a verb that means "to be", "to exist", "to cause to become", or "to come to pass". While there is no consensus about the structure and etymology of the name, the form Yahweh is now accepted almost universally.

Gender in Bible translation concerns various issues, such as the gender of God and generic antecedents in reference to people. Bruce Metzger states that the English language is so biased towards the male gender that it restricts and obscures the meaning of the original language, which was more gender-inclusive than a literal translation would convey. Wayne Grudem disagrees, believing that a translation should try to match the words of the original language rather than introduce the translator's opinion as to whether the original words meant to include both sexes or not, and that trying to be gender-neutral results in vague and contorted writing style. Michael Marlowe argues from a third standpoint, that the Bible is patriarchal, and gender-neutral language distorts its meaning in an attempt by translators like Metzger to impose their progressive modern views on the text. The topic has theological and political undercurrents. Paul Mankowski says that inclusive-language translators are bowing to feminist political taboos rather than trying to translate accurately, while Marmy Clason says that their opponents are motivated by hostility to feminism rather than fidelity to the original meaning.

Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition Sacred Name Bible

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Sacred Name Bible Bible translations that use Hebraic forms of Gods personal name (YHWH)

Sacred Name Bibles are Bible translations that consistently use Hebraic forms of the God of Israel's personal name, instead of its English language translation, in both the Old and New Testaments. Some Bible versions, such as the Jerusalem Bible, employ the name Yahweh, a transliteration of the Hebrew tetragrammaton (YHWH), in the English text of the Old Testament, where traditional English versions have LORD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Names of God in Christianity</span>

The Bible usually uses the name of God in the singular, generally using the terms in a very general sense rather than referring to any special designation of God. However, general references to the name of God may branch to other special forms which express his multifaceted attributes. Scripture presents many references to the names for God, but the key names in the Old Testament are El Elyon, El Shaddai and YHWH. In the New Testament Theos, Kyrios and Patēr are the essential names.

I am the <span style="font-variant:small-caps">Lord</span> thy God Opening phrase of the Ten Commandments

"I am the LORD thy God" is the opening phrase of the Ten Commandments, which are widely understood as moral imperatives by ancient legal historians and Jewish and Christian biblical scholars.

The Koine Greek term Ego eimi, literally I am or It is I, is an emphatic form of the copulative verb εἰμι that is recorded in the Gospels to have been spoken by Jesus on several occasions to refer to himself not with the role of a verb but playing the role of a name, in the Gospel of John occurring seven times with specific titles. These usages have been the subject of significant Christological analysis. The term I Am relating to God appears over 300 times in the Bible, first in the book of Genesis (15:1) and last in Revelation (22:16). This has led to the Biblical God sometimes being referred to as “the great ‘I am’”.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Frequently Asked Questions". Legacy Standard Bible. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)". The Lockman Foundation. Retrieved January 23, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. Garrett O’Hara (April 15, 2020). "Some Thoughts on the Legacy Standard Bible". Things Above. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  4. "The Origin of the LSB". Legacy Standard Bible. Retrieved January 23, 2022.