Why are the newer translations of the Bible missing verses?

Why are the newer translations of the Bible missing verses? We're going to answer that question.

If you compare the King James and the New King James versions with newer translations, you will notice that several verses are entirely missing from the newer translations.

There are numerous words and phrases that are missing as well. Why do these translations omit these verses, phrases, and words?

Are the newer translations taking verses out of the Bible as some claim? No. The newer translations are not removing verses from the

Bible. Rather, the newer translations are attempting to accurately present what the biblical writers originally wrote.

And that means leaving out anything that was not part of the original text. Any content missing in newer translations is believed by most scholars to not have been in the

Bible to begin with. The KJV was translated in AD 1611. The New Testament translators of the

KJV used a Greek manuscript called the Textus Receptus. Since that time, many biblical manuscripts have been discovered that predate the

Textus Receptus and, in theory, are likely to be more accurate. In their research,

Bible scholars and textual critics have discovered some differences between the Textus Receptus and the older manuscripts.

It seems that over the course of 1 ,500 years, some words, phrases, and even sentences were added to the

Bible, either intentionally or accidentally. The missing verses mentioned above are simply not found in some of the oldest and most reliable manuscripts.

So the newer translations remove these verses or place them in footnotes or in brackets because the translators believe they do not truly belong in the

Bible. For example, John 5 .4 is included in the KJV, but in the New King James Version, the verse has a footnote attached, explaining that it is not found in many

Greek texts. The NASB includes the verse in brackets. The NIV places the verse in a footnote.

So John 5 .4 is missing in the actual text. The disputed portion is this, "...waiting

for the moving of the waters. For an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water.

Whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in, was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted."

Here is a possible explanation of how John 5 .4 ended up in the Bible. A scribe is writing out

John 5, in which Jesus visits the pool of Bethesda and speaks to the man about his desire to be healed.

And the man says, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.

The scribe considers the man's reference to stirred water as a source of possible confusion, as John doesn't expound upon it.

So the scribe writes a quick note in the margin to explain why the invalid was waiting for stirred water.

The scribe's notation was an attempt to aid the reader in understanding scripture. But then, as more and more copies of the manuscript were made, the scribe's note was transferred from the margin and inserted into the actual text as part of the passage.

It may be that the later copyist misconstrued the intention of the marginal note. Instead of being a commentary, it was viewed as an attempt to insert a verse accidentally left out.

Thus, what the scribe meant as a helpful gloss resulted in John 5 expanding by one verse.

It is important to remember that the verses in question are of minor significance. None of them change in any way the crucial themes of the

Bible, nor do they have any impact on the Bible's doctrines. These doctrines are preserved intact through the work of the

Holy Spirit, who safeguards the Word of God for all generations. It is not a matter of missing or adding verses.

It is a matter of determining, through careful research and textual science, what content was most likely part of the original manuscripts of the

Bible. That answers the question, why are the newer translations of the Bible missing verses?

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