there was a recent poll done on the reformed pub Facebook group regarding the question what is the greatest of all time a Bible translation and the top three chosen or voted for were the ESV the NASB and the King James and it seems the ESV actually got almost three times higher than the second place the NASB and it took about 64% of the total votes of the top three so it seems the ESV is the most popular amongst Calvinists and yet I would actually encourage all Christians to use in favor the NASB in general so in this video I would like to give just a few reasons why I think the NASB does have several key advantages and yet at the same time I love the ESV and I would highly recommend it I would give I've already given a bunch of efvs to my friends and to my workmates and it's probably my second or third favorite translation ever but the NASB definitely ranks first by far so one of the primary reasons I would recommend the NASB is the fact that whenever the New Testament writers site or even reference the Old Testament or use Old Testament language they the NASB highlights those citations or references by putting them in small caps so they stand out you see if you will reading a ESV it's like ah well what does that got to do with anything but when you're reading the NASB out of nowhere you see these small caps and you automatically know that the author is referring to the Old Testament for example in 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 14 and 15 it says but even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness to a blissed and do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts always being ready to make it offense to everyone etc now that phrase and do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled is in small caps and the readers would we know it's a quotation from the Old Testament specifically Isaiah chapter 8 verse 12 which is about Jehovah and then it is applied to Jesus so that phrase and do not fear their intimidation do not be troubled as a citation from the Old Testament the readers of the NASB would automatically know that it's a citation the readers of the ESV wouldn't know and note that it is about Jehovah in Isaiah chapter 8 it is applied to Jesus Jesus is the Lord whom we sanctify or regard as Holy we honor Christ in our hearts as Lord as Jehovah from Isaiah chapter 8 so you see there are passages and certain instances and this has happened to me I think numerous times where I see these small caps I go and look at the original citation and I note wow the Old Testament about Jehovah is being applied to Jesus in the New Testament it has happened so many times and because I'm using the NASB I can see it if I was using the ESV I would have never found examples like this another example would be Matthew 21 verse 16 and I think from memory I'm not a hundred percent sure the the literal thing happened to me where I looked up the reference and I realized it's about Jehovah and because it's in small caps I knew that it was the Old Testament so these nursing these infants and nursing babies praising Jesus saying Hosanna and the verse from Psalm 8 is actually about the Lord God himself so Jesus fulfills something about the Lord God himself because he's the Lord in the flesh and perhaps a more famous example would be Philippians chapter 2 where it says so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father this is deliberate language by Paul from Isaiah 45 23 where Jehovah says that to me every knee will bow every tongue will swear allegiance Paul doesn't say as it is written or he doesn't say Isaiah says but he simply uses the same language from Isaiah about Jehovah and that simply applies it naturally to Jesus because he regards Jesus as Jehovah from Isaiah but if you're reading the ESV it's harder to see like they do admittedly they do put a cross-reference linking to Isaiah 45 23 but they don't highlight that saying that those key phrases I would prefer though that the is the NSB would also highlight every tongue at least or maybe the whole phrase every tongue will confess because that's also from Isaiah 45 23 the same language is used although Paul seems to use a different version of swear he uses confess instead of swear it's not the exact same Greek term from the sicked origin but it's clear that every tongue is also referring back to the same verse and again there are numerous examples that where you know not just deity of Christ passages either but a bunch of examples where you can see that Paul or the New Testament writers are referencing the Old Testament and you can look up the citation for yourself and of course it makes Bible study very interesting you you don't you don't notice those things it can be very easy to miss if you're using the ESV the next reason why I believe that the NASB is superior is its use of italics you see many translations like the NIV like the ESV like the NIT Bible and the is fee and so many they add a lot of words and two sentences for clarity so that the sentence would make more sense some of these words that were added by the the translators and the scholars would be actual interpretation some of them were some would be debatable but yet the translators added in and don't really mention anything that the verse could be interpreted another way but the NASB puts these added words by the translators in italics so that the reader knows that they're not the word is not exactly in the original language but was added for clarity or interpretation purposes for example at a very key passage of the Bible first Corinthians 12 verse 1 most mention most translations say now concerning spiritual gifts the King James the New King James the NASB many translations have the word gifts in italics because the word gifts doesn't actually appear in the original Greek the Youngs literal translation simply says spiritual things so it's actually debatable or it's subject to interpretation while Paul is talking about is he talking about spiritual persons spiritual things in general or exclusively spiritual gifts it's pretty likely that Paul is talking about spiritual gifts which is why the vast majority of Bible translations say spiritual gifts because the whole chapter is mostly about spiritual gifts but note what verse 4 to 6 say it mentions varieties of gifts but from the same Holy Spirit varieties of ministries or services but the same Lord referring to Jesus the Son and varieties of a fix or activities workings but the same God who has heard the father and there are further reasons in the context why we could interpret at verse 1 as spiritual things or spiritual persons rather than simply or exclusively spiritual gifts so you see the ESV does not put the word gifts and verse 1 in italics leaving the reader uninformed that in fact the word gifts is not in the original Greek but admittedly it does put a footnote says or spiritual persons but this footnote is actually limited it should say or spiritual persons / things so if you're holding an NES B you would realize that this verse can be interpreted in a different way not simply or only spiritual gifts but spiritual things with spiritual persons if you're holding an ESV especially one with no footnotes you wouldn't know necessarily that the word gifts is never found in the original Greek so I do personally believe that it is full to the Word of God to include the italics to allow the reader to know what words were added by the translators what words are not exactly in the Word of God because we need to know these things it's important because putting in spiritual quote unquote gifts is actually an interpretation offered by the translators of both the NASB these you know so the King James etc but it's still an interpretation that should be noted to the reader of the Bible also look at Ebru x' to xi where it says for both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one father but the the word father in the Greek doesn't occur but that's the way the NASB has interpreted that that source as the the ESV puts it all have one source but the ESV doesn't put in italics the word source the word father and the word source are actually interpretations by the translators the King James which I think is the most literal says they who are sanctified are all of one right they're all of one or from one so when I first read this in the NASB I could automatically see that the word father is not in the original Greek that it was added by the translators and therefore it could be interpreted in a different way it's not necessarily referring to God the Father or having the same father it could be interpreted in a different way and at least the translation lets me know so that I can research and study the verse more carefully and of course there are so many examples of this throughout the Bible and that in my opinion makes the NASB more accurate and faithful to the original languages because we do have to be very reverent over the Word of God if a translator has added in a word that's not in the Word of God the readers ought to know right I think it's important that they know right the knit Bible for example is definitely one of my favorite translations it has brilliant footnotes and scholarly explanations and of course the translation is very easy to read and understand it also highlights Old Testament citations but if it included this use of italics like the NASB in the New King James Version and I think even some versions of the King James does it as well to show words added for clarity by the translators the the NIT bar will be extremely superior it would be it would be brilliant if it included the italics usage and the third reason why I prefer the NASB is its feature of capitalizing the personal pronouns of the Lord God whether it's the father the son or the Holy Spirit or the Messiah in the Old Testament whenever it's referring to the Messiah or the Messiah's speaking in the Old Testament it capitalizes the personal pronouns even the let us make man in our image those personal pronouns are capitalized in the NASB now I would admit that although it is technically more accurate not to capitalize them because the capitalization wouldn't have been in the original Hebrew or Greek nevertheless I prefer it because it adds further clarity and also River insan' respect to who God is I personally always capitalized the he in him of God when I whenever I write a facebook status or my theological paper or something I would capitalize the personal pronouns of God that's the way I prefer it and of course if I'm using the ESV that would create problems if I'm if I'm citing the ESV and my exegetical paper or something it would create a sort of imbalance between what I'm doing and what the translators are doing in the usage of personal pronouns now a key example of this and why it's important would be Isaiah 48 16 which is often used as an Old Testament proof text for the Trinity it says and now the Lord God has sent me and is spirit of course the ESV does not capitalize the word me in that phrase but the NSB capitalizes the me showing us that the scholars who translated this verse see the speaker not as Isaiah but as Jesus the Son therefore Jesus is speaking we could either say it's the Messiah speaking or God the Son and according to his deity and now the Lord God has sent him and his spirit the Spirit of the Lord the Lord God the Father and the son is the speaker who was sent by the father so we see a tri-personal or Trinitarian phrase in this verse and it's helpful that the me is capitalized some people would miss it and have no idea it's referring to Jesus now those are just basically three reasons I chose and I think there are other reasons but we don't have to make this video too long I don't know if the footnotes of the NASB of a superior to the ESV probably I'm not sure I don't know if the ESV s cross references to different verses around the Bible is superior than the inner speak from my experience it does seem like they they cite and reference more verses and more relevant verses whenever there are parallel verses in the Bible which is very very helpful but I hope this video has been helpful to you and may you consider the mic the points that I made