ALL Bibles Add Words

Ralph Wilson: Another concern is the...New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures...Translated by a committee of five, none of whom were trained in Hebrew and Greek...their translation of Colossians 1:16 reads, "By means of him all [other] things were created...." The word "other" is added so that Jesus would be seen as a created being, and not as the divine, uncreated Creator.

Reply: Does the insertion of the word "other" indicate a lack a training in the original languages?

The Revised Standard Version inserts the word "other" 100 times, the King James Version, 67 times, and the New Revised Standard Version New Testament 31 times. Here are some examples:

Mark 12:43
"this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury." RSV
"this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury." NAB
"I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others." TEV

Luke 21:29
"Look at the fig tree, and all the trees." Revised Standard Version (RSV)
"Think of the fig tree and all the other trees." Good News Bible (TEV)
"Consider the fig tree and all the other trees." New American Bible(NAB)

Luke 11:42
"and every herb." Revised Version(RV)
"and all the other herbs." TEV
"and all other kinds of garden herbs." New International Version

In all these instances the word "other" was not in the original text, but the translators felt a need to put it in there. Can they do that even without brackets?

"A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other early Christian Literature" by F. Blass and A. Debrunner states that it is not uncommon for the greek to omit the word "other".

The book Theology and Bias in Bible Translations by Professor Rolf Furuli when talking about the word "other" in the Col. 1:16 in the NWT says, "This means that the brackets that NWT uses around OTHER may be removed, because the word OTHER is no addition or interpolation, but in a given context it is a legitimate part of PAS."

Even the NIV has been strongly criticized for adding the word "other" at 1 Cor 6:18, as this changes the meaning and adds the translators theology on the matter.

The NIV has been criticized thusly in other Scriptures also:

"It is surprising that translators who profess to have 'a high view of Scripture' should take liberties with the text by omitting words or, more often, by adding words that are not in the manuscripts." Chapter 12, The New International Version, The Bible in Translation by Bruce M. Metzger [Baker Academic, 2001]

Consider Luther's translation of Romans 3:28 where he adds the word "alone" to the word "faith." The NIV Study Bible says here, "When Luther translated this passage, he added the word 'alone,' which, though not in the Greek, accurately reflects the meaning." You cannot condemn one version, and then praise another for doing exactly the same thing. You cannot have it both ways.

All Bibles add words, simply put. Have you ever noticed all those words in italics in the King James Version and the New American Standard Bible? Those are words that are not in the original text, yet there are thousands of them. P. Marion Sims researched all the words in italics in the Gospel of Matthew in the 1611 King James Version and counted 43, but in the 1870 (Cambridge) edition that number had ballooned to 583 words in italics in the same Gospel. (P. Marion Sims, The Bible in America, New York: Wilson-Erickson, 1936, p. 97.)

Let's us not forget the interpolation of the entire spurious clause, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" at 1 John 5 in certain Versions, and yet the Bibles that contain these words are praised as masterpieces.

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