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'Ask' or 'asking' – Translational error

As I’ve been translating the eye-witness account of Lucus/Luke, I thought it’d be nice to just have a look at a blatant translational error in one of its chapters.

In Chapter 11:5-10, we read (ESV/English Standard Version):
And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.’’

I’d like to focus on the words “ask”, “seek”, and “knock”. In the Greek, they are the words αιτεω/aiteo, ζητεω/zeteo, and κρουω/krouo, and each of them, each and every time they are mentioned in this passage, are in the present, active tense.

Now, anyone who’s at least read a book on Koine Greek will know that the Greek present tense indicates “a processing” or an “undefined” aspect – context will aid you with deciding which one. And what does the context of this passage indicate? That you ask, seek or knock once, and then you receive, find, or have something opened for you? Not what I can see, and certainly what isn’t implied at all by the word impudence.

The man in the example wasn’t “rude” by asking his friend once to give him what he needed and then going away; the point of the passage is that the man was continuously pestering his friend until he got what he needed, to which Yahushua actually says, “Keep asking, and it shall be given to you; keep seeking, and you shall find; keep knocking, and it shall be opened to you.” Anyone who’s studied Greek learns about the processing aspect of the Greek present tense as soon as he learns the Greek Alphabet! How is it that Ph.D Scholars can’t even get such a simple, basic thing into their translation?!

The ESV and its scholar’s pride themselves on their “translation” being, and I quote, “a new, essentially literal Bible translation that combines word-for-word precision and accuracy with literary excellence, beauty, and depth of meaning(italics mine).” (source) “Precision”, “accuracy” and “depth of meaning”? Really?! And yet they can’t even get the actual meaning of three damn words across properly!? One thinks that the ESV translators need to go back and do a first-year koine Greek course again before they make such claims of being “precise” or “accurate”.

But enough about the ESV. Let’s have a look at some other popular English Bible Translations, and see how they fair.

Lucus 11:9

  • NJB:
  •  ‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
  • ASV:
  • And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
  • CEV:
  • So I tell you to ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you.
  • Darby:
  • And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
  • Geneva:
  • And I say vnto you, Aske, and it shall be giuen you: seeke, and yee shall finde: knocke, and it shalbe opened vnto you.
  • God’s Word:
  • So I tell you to ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.
  • Good News Translation:
  • And so I say to you: ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
  • The Message:
  • Here’s what I’m saying: Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open.
  • NET:
  • So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.
  • NCV:
  • So I tell you, ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open for you.
  • NIV:
  • So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
  • NKJV:
  • So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
  • NRSV:
  • So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.
  • RSV:
  • And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
  • Revised Websters:
  • And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
  • KJV:
  • And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
  • WNT:
  • So I say to you, ‘Ask, and what you ask for shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you.
  • YLT:
  • and I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you

These 17 Bible translations all miss the point, and are inaccurate translations of the processing aspect of the Greek Present tense. And most of these (ESV, NRSV, The Message, KJV, NKJV, NIV) are some of the most popular English Bible Translations – and none of them are able to do their job properly. They also (apparently) follow the “Formal Equivalence” or “Essentially Literal” translational philosophy – bar the NIV and the Message of course – One’s a Dynamic Equivalence (NIV (“Thought for thought” translation)), and the other’s a piece of crap that isn’t worth mentioning (The Message).

There are a few, though, that actually translate the words correctly and get the processing aspect of the Greek present tense across:

  • NLT:
  • And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
  • LB:
  • And so it is with prayer—keep on asking and you will keep on getting; keep on looking and you will keep on finding; knock and the door will be opened.
  • ISV:
  • So I say to you: Keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened for you.
  • HCSB:
  • So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
  • AMP:
  • So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you.
  • DRP:
  • So I say to you: Keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.

Six compared to seventeen, only one of which (NLT) is actually considered “popular” compared to the rest. It’s shocking to say the least.

A translation that deserves a special mention is the NASB (New American Standard Bible). In its main text, it translates the passage as So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you, but it has little notes next to ask, seek, and knock, and states that Or Keep asking/seeking/knocking. The NASB managed to to put the wrong meaning in the main text, but the right meaning in the margin! Why bother doing that, when you could’ve just put the correct meaning in the main text itself, and not have anything in the margin!

Problem is, people are far too familiar with the KJV, and none of the “major” translations have the balls to break away from it.
Just compare the KJV to the ESV, for example: KJV:And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.; ESV:And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Apart from updating the KJV’s English, what exactly makes the ESV different to the KJV?

Not very much, I can assure you of that. And trust me, this isn’t the only place where the ESV and other “Bible Translations” can’t get simple meanings of Greek words across. But pointing them all out requires several volumes of books; not a mere blog.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 9:01 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “'Ask' or 'asking' – Translational error”

  1. Jeannie Says:

    March 3rd, 2009 at 1:22 am

    It might take volumes but thank goodness you are making a dent!!

  2. Matthew Says:

    March 3rd, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    Great work Stephen! I guess I must pray without ceasing, something I personally have great difficulty in. But Yahweh has been faithful to me nevertheless and has always answered me where I have requested something from Him.

  3. Pam Says:

    September 28th, 2009 at 1:55 am

    Interesting. Never saw that before. But Father reminded me of the story of the little Jewish woman who pesterd the unjust judge until she got her answer. Father then instructed me that this is how we should pray. So it is consistent with how He does things.

  4. olwyn Says:

    November 22nd, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    please translate ALL the bible. We need the truth.

  5. admin Says:

    November 22nd, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    Hi olwyn:

    I’m almost done with the Renewed Covenant, but I’m not sure we’d have enough time for me to attempt to translate the whole of the Tanakh/”Old Testament”. There just isn’t enough hours in the day for me to complete such a task. Unless, if course, I was able to travel to a place where time passed slower than it did on earth – then I’d probably have enough time.

    But that just isn’t possible =/

  6. Kuri Says:

    February 15th, 2010 at 11:56 pm

    Wait,
    What does Matthew 6:7 (KJV) say: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”
    Empahisis on Repetition.

    Matthew 21:22 says, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

    when we pray we shouldn’t keep on asking, if we truly believe that whatever we pray for we shall receive. What does 1John 5:15 say, “And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” Are we praying a prayer of faith or unbelief?

    here are some more verses that say the same thing.

    John 15:7
    Mark 11:24
    Matt 21:22

    God Bless.

  7. Swalchy Says:

    February 16th, 2010 at 12:16 am

    Sorry Kuri, but your interpretation of Matthew 6:7, being based on the very poor “translation” that is the KJV, shows that you don’t fully understand the meaning of Yahushua’s words. The word that the KJV translates as “vain repetitions” is from the Greek βατταλογεω/battalogeo meaning “to use mindless babble”. The people Yahushua has in mind are the pagans who think that mindlessly babbling unintelligible phrases (very much like those who “speak in tongues” today), the gods will “understand” them better, and so grant whatever weird request they’re making. There isn’t an emphasis on “repetition” at all.

    Nevertheless, you haven’t answered the point of my blog post at all – that English “translations” haven’t translated the words used in Luke 11 correctly, regardless of what has been said somewhere else.

    I also wouldn’t use the words “faith” or “belief” especially as no one in the Renewed Covenant uses those words. “Trust” and “reliance” would be better terms.

    Matthew 21:22 therefore states “And all things, all that you shall ask through trusting in prayer, you shall obtain”. There is also nothing here that contradicts the keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking meaning of Lucus 11:5-10.

  8. Kuri Says:

    February 16th, 2010 at 12:47 am

    wait so you don’t believe in the speaking of tongues Acts 2:4

    Have you missed the part where it says TRUSTING, keep asking implies that you are not trusting in, no FAITH. That maybe if you pray pray and pray some more God will hear you.
    What does lJohn 5:15 say

  9. Swalchy Says:

    February 16th, 2010 at 1:09 am

    Don’t recall even hinting that I didn’t “believe” in the “speaking of tongues”. I just mentioned that today’s “speaking in tongues” is like the mindless babble that today’s people who claim to have the “speaking in tongues” actually engage in. The “speaking of tongues” in Acts 2:4 wasn’t mindless babble – it was the ability to speak foreign languages (human languages that is) without actually knowing them. Like if I stood up and spoke fluent Chinese – that would be me manifesting the gift of “speaking in tongues” that the original disciples had. The “speaking in tongues” done by today’s masses is mindless babble, and nothing else.

    “Keep asking” doesn’t imply that you’re not trusting in the slightest – where on earth have you got that from? And you’re right it indicates no “faith”, as the word “faith” itself expresses a degree of doubt, which is the exact opposite of Matthew 21:22.

    Nevertheless, you’re still not answering my blog post at all. The Greek of Lucus 11:5-10 is present continuous, which means keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Even the event that Yahushua quotes to His disciples states that He does indeed mean a continuous process of asking, seeking, and knocking.

    Not surprisingly, the Greek of 1 John 5:15 is present continuous, even the Greek word translated as “hear”. 1 John 5:15 therefore states, “And if we know that He continually hears us, whatever we may continuously ask for, we know that we possess the requests we have continuously asked from Him.”

    I would go and read Luke 18:1-8 as well, as that also says the exact same thing regarding continuously asking Yahuweh.

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