Income inequality has been a hot issue of late and i thought that was the topic i was supposed to write on today. i did lots of research about the disparity, read historical reports, started to structure the essay.....and then decided i needed a break. Upon further investigation i understood that income inequality was not even included in what i am to write about.
During that break i got down the New King James version of the Holy Bible. Sometimes i let the book open, read the two pages and go on about whatever pursuit i'm on that particular day. Other days i pop open some novel i loved or the Hebrew texts or a book by the Dalai Lama. Today, the book opened to Matthew Chapter 6. i read it while eating nuts and began to wonder how the Catholic Bible compared.
Since my indoctrination was with the Catholic Bible and i don't have one, i went on line to read Matthew Chapter 6 and was struck by the difference between the two.
Most reading here know that the King James Bible is an English translation of the Christian Bible (based upon the Latin Vulgate)that was begun in 1604 and completed in 1611 during the reign of King James I of England. Certain Greek and Hebrew words were to be translated in a manner that reflected the traditional usage of the Church of England. For example, old ecclesiastical words such as the word "church" were to be retained and not to be translated as "congregation". The new translation would reflect the episcopal structure of the Church of England and traditional beliefs about ordained clergy. In places where the original language employed repetition, they tended to enliven their text with stylistic variation, finding multiple English words or verbal forms.
"In 1975 The New King James Bible was being worked upon by 68 prominent Baptists and a few conservative Presbyterians with the full version being printed in 1982. The aim being to update the vocabulary and grammar. One of the criticisms of the King James Bible is that it is based solely upon the ancient texts available during the time of King James and not on earlier manuscripts and documents which have since been discovered." Wikipedia
The Catholic Bible on the other hand came down from the apostles writings themselves which no longer exist. The papyrus dissolved over time. Some where around 383 St. Jerome translated the New Testament from Greek into Latin and over 16 years translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Latin. Chapter and verse divisions are not found in the oldest manuscripts of the Bible, and there is evidence that the early Hebrew writers did not even separate the words of the text, following a Hebrew tradition that Moses recited the Law as one continuous word. In the commentaries of the Hebrew Old Testament i learned that Moses had taught a student all the oral stories. This pupil could recite them forwards and backwards at any time for Moses and others while Moses was alive. But once Moses died, in his grief, he forgot the stories and the elders put together the pieces through exegesis. i was very surprised to learn this while reading.
i decided that i would place the translations from the New Version of the King James and the Catholic Bible together.
Matthew Chapter 6.....the lessons in black are the Catholic Bible and the lessons in Blue are the New King James .
i switched the last one as i was partial to having the Catholic phrase last. As you read through you will see there is not much difference....just as there is not much difference between all of us.
1 'Be careful not to parade your uprightness in public to attract attention; otherwise you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven.
1 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win human admiration. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward.
2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
3 But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing;
3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 your alms giving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
5 'And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward.
5 "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
6 But when you pray, go to your private room, shut yourself in, and so pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
7 'In your prayers do not babble as the gentiles do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard.
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
8 "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
9 So you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy,
9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not put us to the test, but save us from the Evil One.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
14 'Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours;
14 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.
15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 'When you are fasting, do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they go about looking unsightly to let people know they are fasting. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward.
16 "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
17 But when you fast, put scent on your head and wash your face,
17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
18 so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
19 'Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy them and thieves can break in and steal.
19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
20 But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworm destroys them and thieves cannot break in and steal.
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be too.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 'The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is clear, your whole body will be filled with light.
22 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkened, what darkness that will be!
23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 'No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.
24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
25 'That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and what you are to wear. Surely life is more than food, and the body more than clothing!
25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are?
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 Can any of you, however much you worry, add one single cubit to your span of life?
27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin;
28 "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
29 yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of these.
29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Now if that is how God clothes the wild flowers growing in the field which are there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you who have so little faith?
30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 So do not worry; do not say, "What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?"
31 "Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?' or ‘What shall we drink?' or ‘What shall we wear?'
32 It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all.
32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
34 So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.'
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