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50 Years of Translation History, Continued

The Legacy Standard Bible

Too much stained glass

What did the Author intend?

A translation is like a window—it allows you to see through to the other side. While many Bible renderings focus on the reader’s point of view, the Legacy Standard Bible began by asking a decidedly different question—what did the Author intend?

See the Glory of Christ through the Window of God’s Word

  • The Best Way to Experience a Masterpiece Is Up Close and Personal

    The Masterpiece above all creation is the glory of Christ as seen in the Word of God. Examining Scripture in a word-for-word translation allows the reader to encounter its unparalleled beauty as the Author originally intended.

  • Know What God Said, Not What We Think He Said

    Know you are seeing Christ clearly because what is in front of you is what God said, not what thoughts He intended.

  • Consistency + Clarity = Confidence

    The goal was not to create a new translation but to refine an already excellent one. Carefully working word-by-word through the New American Standard Bible, the LSB improves word consistency, revealing a depth of clarity not seen before. With careful reading, you’ll see how the 66 books are a divinely orchestrated masterpiece from a single Author—eternal and without error.

     

See the Difference Today

Explore the Literal Beauty of the LSB

Explore the Literal Beauty of the LSB

A Legacy Upheld

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A New Level of Precision

The LSB advances the aim of the NASB. It brings out textual connections through consistent translation of words, highlights literary artistry like alliteration, and tightens grammatical structure. With this new level of precision, the Bible reader is able to see more of what is happening in the original text than ever before. Learn more

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Internationally Tested

English is a global language. We knew we needed a global team to test the readability of the text. The LSB was reviewed by a team of 70+ scholars, pastors, and every-day NASB readers from around the world. This ensures readers from all walks of life can easily engage and interact with the text.

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Beloved by Millions of People Every Day

Expository preachers and Bible teachers including John MacArthur, Al Mohler, Charles Stanley, Kay Arthur, and thousands of others have used the NASB because of its faithfulness to what the Author originally intended. Their influence has led millions of Christian men and women to use the NASB in their personal, daily reading. The LSB carries on that tradition by seeking to apply even more precision to its literal qualities.

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Explore the Translation Process

Watch the story of the LSB unfold

The translation team shares how the LSB shines clearly through the window—from the Author to the reader.

Endorsements

Use the arrows on the right and left to see who is supporting the LSB translation.

Translation Matters

“To bring forth every feature of God’s inspired Word with the hope that believers by the Spirit and through the church will labor to grasp every detail to the glory of God.” – Dr. Abner Chou

 

The link below will take you to the Tyndale Center for Bible Translation, a project of The Master’s Seminary. The content on their site is a work in progress. Over time the site will contain the notes from the LSB translation team that were captured during their work. It is provided as a resource to help people everywhere understand more of the Biblical languages and is freely accessible.

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Still Have Questions?

Traditionally, the translation “God” renders the Hebrew word Elohim. Likewise, the word “Lord” is a translation of Adonai. In the LSB, God’s covenant name is rendered as Yahweh, as opposed to LORD. The meaning and implication of this name is God’s self-deriving, ongoing, and never-ending existence. Exodus 3:14–15 shows that God Himself considered it important for His people to know His name. The effect of revealing God’s name is His distinction from other gods and His expression of intimacy with the nation of Israel. Such a dynamic is a prevalent characteristic of the Scriptures as Yahweh appears in the OT over 6,800 times.   In addition to Yahweh, the full name of God, the OT also includes references to God by a shorter version of His name, Yah. By itself, God’s name “Yah” may not be as familiar, but the appearance of it is recognizable in Hebrew names and words (e.g. Zechar-iah, meaning Yah remembers, and Hallelu-jah, meaning praise Yah!). God’s shortened name “Yah” is predominantly found in poetry and praise.
While the Legacy Standard Bible sought to uphold the NASB 95, it has several key distinctions:
  • The recovery of God’s name, Yahweh in the OT, and slave for the Greek term doulos in the NT.
  • The change of certain words and phrases in order to ensure that English words consistently matched their original language counterparts, and that the phrasing matched the grammar of the original language.
  • The usage of weights, measurements, and currency as they’re found in the original writing. Because this translation is designed to bring the reader to what was originally written, the LSB maintains the unit of measurement that the Scripture uses. For clarity, conversions into both American and metric units are provided in the notes for measurements. This allows for the LSB to serve the entire English-speaking world by not choosing one country’s unit of measurement or currency over another. It also preserves any exegetical significance of the way the measurements were originally expressed.
Like any translation, the LSB is a tool for Bible study. It specifically desires to be a window into the original language and provide in English what a scholar or pastor would see reading a Hebrew or Greek Bible. For this reason, and as most of the editions of the Greek New Testament today indicate Old Testament quotations, so the LSB follows the tradition of the NASB in doing likewise. When a NT author clearly quotes an OT verse, it is formatted in all caps. Fundamentally, this helps the reader immediately see that part of the OT is being quoted or incorporated into the NT. This shows the unity of Scripture and is a helpful study tool so that one is alerted to important cross references, some that an English reader may overlook. It secondarily serves as a helpful way to find references quickly as the change of typography can help us locate where a certain passage is quoted with greater ease. The LSB double checked and expanded the references of the NASB in honor of this practice.
The LSB maintains the readability of the NASB. Accuracy and consistency do not hinder readability. Rather, it often can bring clarity of expression. For example, consistency at times simplifies vocabulary by using standard wording for a specific term. The sharpening of grammar allows for greater clarity of the structure of a sentence. Even more, using certain literal phrases brings out the vivid metaphors of Scripture, makes the progression of thought easier to trace, and highlights distinct parallelism. These features within the LSB help the careful reader find and follow the original author’s flow of thought. Read the LSB today!
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