Something of a surprise at this week’s Shepherds’ Conference was the announcement that John MacArthur (and an assembled team of people) have been working for quite some time behind the scenes to produce The Preacher’s Bible, which, as the name suggests, is a Bible designed especially for preachers and preaching. What was even more of a surprise was that every attendee at the Conference was given one of these new Bibles. Think of that – around 4,000 pastors/ministers received one of these Bibles.
Dr. MacArthur was asked, “If you could design the perfect Bible for preachers, what would it include?” The result is The Preacher’s Bible. Here is where Dr. MacArthur explains the rationale behind the project.
I can say this: After spending a number of hours analyzing ‘The Preacher’s Bible’, I am beyond thrilled with it. More than that, I am happy to announce that this new high quality Bible is now my personal preaching Bible. It is indeed perfect for preaching. It is very heavy though – close to 6lbs in weight. No one would want one of these “puppies” to fall on them from a great height – that is for sure.
What this all means is that I am switching from the ESV (English Standard Version) to the NASB (New American Standard Bible) as my translation of choice for preaching. Doug is also excited by this and as elders at King’s Church we can also announce that the NASB will now be the version used for the reading and preaching of God’s word in our services.
What does this mean for you (at King’s Church)?
Well, what it does NOT mean is that anyone HAS to switch to the NASB as the Bible they bring to Church. Not in any way at all. There are great translations out there and I for one am glad about that. The ESV (which was the version we used) is still an excellent translation and I have nothing negative to say about it. In fact, because both translations are highly accurate, many times the words in the verses of the ESV and the NASB are almost identical to each other. However, to avoid unnecessary confusion in having a number of different translations read in a service (which would be confusing, especially to someone new to the faith), it will be the NASB that will be the one used for reading and preaching.
The NASB has always been known for its high degree of accuracy in translating the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the koine Greek of the New. Praise the Lord for that!
I also especially like two features of the New American Standard Bible:
1) The NASB addresses God with a capital “H”. I like this because by doing this, it becomes absolutely clear as to WHO is being addressed in a verse, leaving nothing to mental guesswork. That is often not the case in other translations.
2) I really like how, when reading the New Testament, the NASB alerts us to the fact that a verse from the Old Testament is being quoted by making it stand out in the text. It does so by making the Old Testament quotation capitalized.
If you go to this link you can check a passage such as Hebrews chapter 1 in both the ESV and the NASB (go to the top right of the page and click on each one) and see the difference between the translations. I very much appreciate the clarity of the NASB in showing exactly what the wording of the Old Testament quotation is. Making the quotation capitalized makes it stand out in the text.
If you want to know more about the Preacher’s Bible, you can do so at this link. Bear in mind that this is not a study Bible, as such. It is designed especially for preaching.
The NASB will also receive an update in the year 2020 (the last one being in 1995) and by all accounts, will become even more accurate and readable at that time.