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New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Information and Review

The New American Standard Bible (NASB) 1971, 1977, 1995

The NASB is a publication of the Lockman Foundation originally published in 1971 and updated in 1977, 1995, and in 2020. Beginning with the 1971 edition, the NASB is a new translation from the original languages, "based on" the American Standard Version (1901). It now has enjoyed six decades of excellent reputation and scholastic recognition as one of the most accurate literal English translations available.

I have been using the 1995 edition of the NASB since Feb of 1999, and my wife has been using her 1977 edition since 1986. During the seven years that we were members of the parent church of our Bible college, the NASB was the most commonly used version by the pastor and staff and was strongly recommended. This is noteworthy because Tyndale places a very large emphasis in original languages.

My personal comfort with the NASB undoubtably came in part from the fact that the NASB reads very much like the King James which I grew up with. I believe this version is very similar to the KJV because both are literal translations, but also because I believe that the NASB was translated with an attitude of conformity to the King James. I qualify this by two factors. First, 'Thy,' Thee,' and 'Thou' were retained in the 1977 edition when referring to God, and secondly, verses (or verse portions) which are included in the KJV, but generally excluded from Critical Text Bibles are included (in brackets with translation notes) in the NASB. This is a greatly appretiated feature, and one that makes me quite confident using the NASB.

Text Used

This is a Critical Text translation with the 1971 edition using the 3rd edition of Kittel's Biblia Hebraica for the Old Testament, and 26th edition of Eberhard Nestle's Novum Testamentum Graece for the New Testament.

Gender Translation

The 1995 edition of the NASB tests 100% compliant with the Colorado Springs Guidelines, with the vast majority (27/30) of test verses using original gender, and the few exceptions (3 test verses) being compliant to gender-accurate allowances.

The Scholarship of the NASB

The NASB represents a 12-year (1959-1971) project with 58 Translators with doctorates in Biblical languages, representing 20 colleges and seminaries, including Wheaton College, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dallas Theological Seminary, Bob Jones University, and others. Translators who worked on the 1977, 1995, and 2020 editions are listed on the NASB website (Lockman.org).

The translators come from American Baptist, Southern Baptist, General Association of Regular Baptist, Independent Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Free Methodist, Disciples, Nazarene, Congregational, and other denominations. All support the philosophy of literal translation and the inerrancy of Scripture, and the Lockman Foundation's fundamental doctrinal statement (below).

Personal note: It is incidental that I was able to meet one of the translators of the 1995 and 2020 versions, Dr. Paul Enns, Th.M. Th.D. at The Fundamentals for the Twenty-First Century, a two-day symposium (published as a book by the same name) reaffirming the "Fundamentals" of conservative christianity where he taught on the divine nature of Jesus Christ.

Trust: The NASB Publisher's Doctrinal Statement

All Translators of the NASB have agreed to the following Doctrinal Statement:

We believe that the entire Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God; the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

We believe in the sacrificial and vicarious death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and that He thereby made perfect substitutionary atonement for the sin of the world. We believe in His literal physical resurrection from the dead.

We believe in the literal, bodily, physical, and premillennial return of Jesus Christ.

We believe that all people are sinners and in an eternally lost condition apart from the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe that acceptance into the family of God and eternal salvation can only be secured by believing in and by faith accepting and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Sin-bearer, Lord and Savior.

Lockman's Continued Commitment to the 1995 Edition - The Lockman Foundation has a published commitment to continue to publish the 1995 edition of the NASB along with the 2020 edition, rather than obsoleting it in favor of the 2020 edition. They have also used the 1995 edition as the basis for their joint-venture Legacey Standard Bible (see below).

The NASB 2020 Edition (Gender Accurate Edition)

The biggest distinction of the 2020 update is the use of Gender Accurate translation.

Information from the publisher (Lockman Foundation) states that the 2020 update stays "Gender-accurate," but the new version replaces the generic male pronoun with modern grammatical form. See the detailed Lockman article on NASB 2020 gender renderings. I don't like this trend in translations, but I understand it. My check against the Colorado Springs Guidelines for gender translation showed 88% compliance, which is actually very good. With only one exception of translating "man" as "person," the violations were instances Rule A3, translating "man" as "mankind" or "human" in regard to the human race (which makes sense in modern English, but is not a literal rendering).

The thing about the gender handling changes is that they are extremely pervasive - a LOT of verses sound different, like "fishers of people" instead of the expected "fishers of men." Such changes may qualify as gender-accurate, but still take some getting used to...

Besides gender changes, the other differences I noted were some word smoothings. A good example is John 10:10, where the 1995 edition and the LSB say, "I came that they may have life," the 2020 edition says, "I came so that they would have life." In this example, not only does it read better by adding 'so', but replacing 'may' with 'would' is more accurate because in English 'may' conveys a nuance of uncertainty which is not expressed in the Greek.

Conclusion: Some noticable improvements, but a big-splash of gender changes. I'll stick to my 1995.

Comparison to the Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)

The Legacy Standard Bible is "a direct update the 1995 edition of the NASB." It is a 2024 publication which is "a joint-venture product of The Lockman Foundation (NASB publisher), Three Sixteen Publishing, and the John MacArthur Charitable Trust." I have used this version quite a bit in comparison with the NASB 1995 and have been reliably pleased. If anything, I would say the NASB 1995 and the LSB are very similar - the majority (but not all) of my test verses comparing the LSB and NASB 1995 were identical. The LSB seems slightly more literal, especially in using original units of measure and using Yahweh for God.

My full review of the LSB is Here.

Comparison to the English Standard Bible (ESV)

The English Standard Version (ESV) seems slightly less literal, or more interpretive, than the NASB. The publisher emphasizes word-for-word accuracy, but words are adjusted for easier reading. This has been done very well, but does impact the 'degree of literalness' of the version.

My full review of the ESV is Here.