• Home
• About Us
  
  
  • Contact & Permissions
  • Who we are
  • History
  • Who is Jesus?
  • Frequent Questions
  • Support Us
   
• Shop / Catalog
  
  
  • Software & eBooks
  • Specialty Works
  • NASB Update
  • Amplified
  • NASB 1977
  • LBLA
  • NBLH
  • More Translations
   
• Bible Information
  
  
  • Amplified
  • NASB
  • LBLA
  • NBLH
  • Permissions
   
• Resources
  
  
  • The Bible Online
  • Free Downloads
   
• Bible Questions

New American Standard Bible
Translation Principles

The New American Standard Bible translation team adhered to the literal philosophy of translation. This is the most exacting and demanding method of translation, and requires a word-for-word translation that is accurate and precise, yet easily readable. This philosophy of translation follows the word and sentence patterns of the original authors so that the reader is free to understand God's message as the Holy Spirit leads.

What is the process of translation?

No initial translation work was ever done by a single individual working privately. The renderings were always the outgrowth of a pooling of ideas and input from a group of translators. Sometimes done by the entire translation committee and sometimes by a subcommittee thereof, the initial draft was then shipped to consultants in other areas, who were given several weeks to evaluate the translated portion. Their comments were then combined and the whole package submitted to the translation committee which at this point finalized the translation for that given portion. Though a constant refining of the text ensued, this, in essence, was the work that was eventually published. 

The Fourfold Aim That Guides All of Our Translation Work

1.These publications shall be true to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
2. They shall be grammatically correct.
3. They shall be understandable.
4. They shall give the Lord Jesus Christ His proper place, the place which the Word gives Him; therefore, no work will ever be personalized.

Introduction to the New American Standard Bible

The King James Version, a landmark in the history of English Bible translation, is a revision of the Bishops' Bible of 1568. The KJV became the basis for the English Revised Version appearing in 1881 (New Testament) and 1885 (Old Testament). The American counterpart of this last work was published in 1901 as the American Standard Version. The ASV, a product of both British and American scholarship, has been highly regarded for its scholarship, and accuracy.

Recognizing the values of the American Standard Version, The Lockman Foundation felt an urgency to preserve these and other lasting values of the ASV, by incorporating recent discoveries of Hebrew and Greek textual sources and by rendering it into more current English. Therefore, in 1959 a new translation project was launched, based on the time-honored principles of translation of the ASV and KJV. The result is the New American Standard Bible.

Under the sponsorship of The Lockman Foundation of La Habra, California, a dedicated team of scholars worked for more than ten years to produce the New American Standard Bible. First published in its compete form in 1971, the NASB is excellent for Bible study because it aims at a precise translation of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. As such, it renders, where practical, the original order of words and phrases. In passages where this literalness produces unacceptable English, the translators used modern English idioms and indicated the literal renderings in marginal notes.

In New Testament Greek, questions are worded in a way that shows whether the expected answer is yes or no. The NASB translation is faithful to this treatment. In places where the English language would describe past action with a past-tense verb, the Greek uses the present tense for special vividness. The NASB indicates such cases with an asterisk (or star) before the past-tense verb. Among the other distinctive are the NASB's clear indicating of all phrases that quote or allude to the Old Testament; it includes quotation marks for dialogue and quoted material and capitalizes personal pronouns and words referring to Deity; and supplied words are in italic type.

Underlying the New American Standard Bible is the evangelical commitment of the translators: all of whom believe that the words of the original manuscripts of Scripture were given by God.

HEBREW TEXT: The latest edition of Rudolf Kittel's BIBLIA HEBRAICA has been employed together with the most recent light from lexicography, cognate languages, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

GREEK TEXT: Consideration was given to the latest available manuscripts with a view to determining the best Greek text. In most instances the 26th edition of Eberhard Nestle's NOVUM TESTAMENTUM GRAECE was followed.

Translators of the NASB

The translators were carefully chosen from the mainstream evangelical denominational groups and respected Christian institutions of higher learning. Some served on the translation committee itself. This was a committee located, for the most part, in the Southern California area. Others served as consultants who reviewed the translation committee's work and made recommendations for improvements. These consultants were chosen from all sections of the United States.

More than fifty who have earned doctorates in Biblical languages worked on the translation of the Scriptures. They actively teach in colleges and seminaries, including Wheaton College, Northwestern Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Dallas Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Talbot Theological Seminary, California State University, Bethany Nazarene College, Azusa-Pacific College, Bob Jones University, Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Covenant Theological Seminary, Grace Theological Seminary, Texas Christian University, Seattle Bible School, Southern California College, Westmont College, Point Loma College, and Regent College.

The translators come from Presbyterian, Methodist, American Baptist, Disciples, Southern Baptist, Nazarene, General Association of Regular Baptist, Congregational, Independent Baptist, Free Methodist, and still other denominations. Some have international reputations. All support the philosophy of literal translation and the doctrinal statement of The Lockman Foundation, including the inerrancy of the Scriptures.