NASB Confusion - The two sons and the Father's vineyard - Matthew 21:28-31

Matthew 21:28-31 - "A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in MY vineyard. He answered and said, I will NOT: BUT AFTERWARD HE REPENTED, AND WENT. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I GO, sir.; and HE WENT NOT. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The FIRST."

This is the reading of the King James Bible 1611, Wycliffe 1395, Tyndale 1525, Coverdale 1535, the Bishops' Bible 1568, the Geneva Bible 1599, the Revised Version of 1881, the American Standard Version of 1901, the RSV 1952, NRSV 1989, ESV of 2001, the NKJV 1982, Holman Standard 2003, the ISV 2010, the Catholic Douay 1950 and Jerusalem bibles 1969, 1985, the NIV of 1984 and even the NET version. These readings are found in the majority of all manuscripts and in the Siniaticus copy, one of the so called oldest and best. However Vaticanus or B, reverses the order of the two sons. Even the Catholic bibles rejected the Vaticanus reading, and they have it in the Vatican library as one of their treasured possessions. Yet they chose to follow the reading that matches that found in the King James Bible.

When the Father came to the first son and told him to go work in his vineyard, instead of saying "I will NOT:BUT AFTERWARD HE REPENTED, AND WENT." the NASBs from 1962, 63, 68, 71, 72, 75 and 1977 say "I WILL, AND HE DID NOT GO." And when he comes to the second son, in the NASBs from 1962 to 1977 , instead of him saying "I GO SIR, AND HE WENT NOT" the NASBs have "I WILL NOT, YET AFTERWARD HE REGRETTED IT AND WENT." Then, when Jesus asks which of them did the father's will, instead of "the FIRST", the NASBs (1963 to 1977) say "the LATTER"!!!

Other bible versions that also follow the reading found in Vaticanus are the Jehovah Witness New World Translation 1961, the New English Bible 1970, Goodspeed 1943, and the Revised English Bible of 1989, put out as a recent joint effort between Protestants and Catholics. All these versions follow the Vaticanus reading, in spite of the overwhelming evidence that it is wrong.

The NASB does not always follow the Vaticanus readings. Siniaticus differs from it over 3000 times in the gospels alone. In fact in verse 28 the "my" of "MY vineyard" is in B, but not in Siniaticus, but the NASB did not put it in. So the NASB goes back and forth between Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, sometimes following one, sometimes the other, and sometimes changing their opinion from one year to the next. Here in verse 28 both the NIV and NASB have followed Siniaticus and rejected the Vaticanus and Majority reading of "MY vineyard"and have merely "THE" vineyard.

The NASBs then chose to follow the Vaticanus reading (and not the Sinaiticus nor Majority reading) in verses 29-31 in all their editions from 1960 through 8 different editions until 1995 when they again changed their "scholarly opinion", based on the same evidence which they had all along! NOW the 1995 NASB "update" reads as did the King James Bible and many others all this time.

Which NASB was or is the true words of God? Short answer- None of them. There is no "science" in their critical text methods; only the fickle and every changing opinions of men who make change for change's sake (and perhaps for a few dollars and personal fame tossed in as well.) Their bogus bibles only serve to undermine the authority of God's true words and sow doubt and confusion among God's people.

Will Kinney

• < Prev
• Next >