New Bible version can’t be trusted, warns Nairobi Bishop
Claims that the latest translation of the Bible has left out some verses of the gospel has prompted a Nairobi Bishop to urge Christians to stick to the older versions.
Social media has been abuzz over missing verses in the latest edition of the New International Version Bible. For instance, the latest edition omits Matthew 17:21 that talks about prayer and fasting.
In its place are three dots (…) and the next verse, 22, continues thereafter.
Other verses left out in the new edition include, Matthew 18:11, Matthew 23:14, Mark 7:16, Mark 9:44, Mark 9:46, Luke 17:36, Luke 23:17, John 5:4 and Acts 8:37.
NUMEROUS TRANSLATIONS
The Bible was first written in Hebrew and Greek and has been subjected to numerous translations.
Bishop David Oginde of Christ is the Answer Ministries (Citam) on Sunday penned an article on The Standard newspaper advising Christians to use the older versions of the Bible for a more accurate translation.
He stated that the 2011 edition of the New International Version (NIV) Bible has translation challenges which have been pointed out by Christian scholars.
“It follows therefore that if you have the 1984 NIV, you have a good translation of the Bible. But, it is always good to use several versions to compare renderings, unless of course you can read Hebrew and Greek,” Bishop Oginde argued.
The Bishop added that newer translations of the Bible have also omitted words like Jehovah and Yahweh in reference to God, but only as a way of avoiding to refer to God using his actual name.
‘TOO SACRED’
“Because of this, the Jews have considered the name too sacred to use, the same way many of us would find it difficult to call our fathers by their actual names… Instead they use “the LORD” (in caps). This is what is used in NIV and even New King James Version,” added Bishop Oginde.
The Bishop was commenting on the issue following circulation of messages online and via text messages of missing verses in the latest translation of the NIV Bible.
Biblica is the worldwide publisher and copyright holder of the NIV. Through licences, Biblica works with commercial partners around the world like Zondervan and Hodder Faith.
Various christian ministries have in the past sought an explanation for the missing verses and found out that some copies of the hand copied manuscripts have either included the verses or omitted them hence the difference depending on what manuscript a translator uses.