The Amplified Bible (1965)

In an attempt to be all things to all people, this version does nothing well. Highly lamentable.

This is no critique of the Bible as such: the Word of God is great and powerful.

The Amplified Bible would attempt to be a generally formally equivalent, word-for-word translation, with many expansions of meanings and explanations written within the text itself.

There are a few times when this process genuinely works: the expansion/explanation works well within the text and provides some more clarity and extra dimensions where a straight formal translation might lead to vagary.

But for the most part the expansiveness creates complications. It is not always immediately apparent when the text is expanding and where it is not. It makes for a very hard to read translation: there is no flow or symmetry in the translation because of the expansions.

Most of the translation is defensible and the expansions and explanations within the text at least understandable. There are a few times when the translator makes highly questionable choices: preferring strange variants or choosing definitions more by preference than lexical likelihood. It is apparent that this was a New Testament version that later decided to append an Old Testament; the OT has far fewer expansions in many of its books, even in places where it might have been more helpful to have some. Certain Dead Sea Scroll notes are made; others are not; it is possible this is due to the fact that a lot of the information about the DSS was coming out around the same time as the translation itself.

If the translation itself is questionable, its notes, at least in this particular edition, are even more so. Most of the OT notes provide very little background to the text but seem to project a certain kind of mid-20th century anxiety about whether the reader is going to be able to really accept the inspiration of the text or not. To this end most of the notes are really quotes from various 19th and early 20th century expositors seeking to commend the historicity and inspiration of the text. The notes are very much a creature of that time and place. Some of them, as on the Kushites in Amos, are clearly prejudiced and of that time and place. The NT notes tend to reference the various lexical and exegetical sources the translator is using, and they very much are of that time and place, overly reliant on pre-20th century resources.

Perhaps this version had its time and place before the age of computing and easy access to multiple translations and other resources. It does fulfill one purpose: it demonstrates that a Bible translation/version cannot, and should not, try to be all things to all people. A Bible translation/version should not try to provide every or even many nuances of translation for any given verse or passage; it should give a straightforward reading, make notes about important variants, critical explanations, or certain idiomatic tendencies, and then leave the craft of nuance and providing greater depth and definition to the text to exposition. Consider, in contrast, the NET Bible with full notes: it is Mishnaic/Talmudic in perspective, with the notes well exceeding the text itself, in its attempt to provide that depth and definition.

This version should not be one's primary study Bible. This version might be a reference work to consider at times, but whatever one would gain from it can be seen by consulting a multiplicity of other versions. Not quite sure where the Amplified has value in our present context. ( )

Excellent study resource

I inherited this version from my Grandmother. I know that the Bible is just one point of view. It is not all bad. When the church uses it to control you it is bad. Sorry. Just my opinion. ( )

A useful tool for comparative study, no doubt. Still, there is the bent on translating original language terms so as to not upset traditional doctrine(s), rather than "amplifying" the fullest use of the word (appropriate to context). Having read the introduction I am convinced that in all sincerity this translation was conceived as an act of faith to promote Bible reading and comprehension. ( )

a good "go to" bible, more than just a read threw like the NIV, but with actual and correct words that can correspond right back to the greek and hebrew. which helped (me at least) get an Ideal of what was originally written (unlike the JKV which i grew up with and now can not stand) ( )