SPECIAL FEATURE
The New American Standard Bible in E-Prime
by Dr. David F. Maas
Short URL
To access this page quickly and easily, use the short URL: http://tinyurl.com/eprimebible
About E-Prime
--The Original Formulator of E-Prime-- D. David Bourland, Jr.
“E-Prime” refers to a version of English that lacks any conjugation of the infinitive “to be.” Developed by D. David Bourland, Jr., E-Prime aims to address many problematic forms of English expression that lead to confusion of orders of abstracting, brought to light by the founder of general semantics Alfred Korzybski.
E-Prime primarily corrects instances of “the is of identity” and “the is of predication.” The is of identity usually equates a very specific member with a very general class (e.g., “Man is an animal”). The is of predication usually erroneously constructs an image that a property exists in its respective object, rather than more accurately exists as a construction in an observer’s “mind,” independent of the object (e.g., “The ball is red”).
By eradicating be-verbs from English and formulating sentences in different ways outside of their use, Bourland believed E-Prime could reduce confusion of orders of abstracting and improve overall sanity for writers, speakers, and their audiences. E-Prime received much attention after its introduction and many writers and speakers have practiced it. The subject of E-Prime received critical attention in three volumes of essays published by the International Society for General Semantics (now the Institute of General Semantics): To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology (currently out of print), More E-Prime: To Be or Not II, and E-Prime III!: A Third Anthology.
About the NASB Bible in E-Prime
Dr. David F. Maas began composing the New American Standard Bible in E-Prime in February 2009 and published the version below on the Institute of General Semantics website in July 2010.
As for the motivations behind an E-Priming of the NASB, Dr. Maas wrote “Concerning an E-Prime Translation of the Bible,” published in ETC: A Review of General Semantics, Winter 1995-1996 (52:4).
The New American Standard Bible in E-Prime
Translated by Dr. David F. Maas
Click on each part to read the New American Standard Bible in E-Prime.
Revised August 5-6, 2010
- Part 1: The Law
- Part 2: History, Joshua, Two Kings
- Part 3: History, 1 Chronicles, Esther
- Part 4: Wisdom, Literature, Job, Song of Solomon
- Part 5: Major Prophets
- Part 6: Minor Prophets
- Part 7: The Gospels and Acts
- Part 8: Letters and Revelation
- Click here to read the original NASB.
Revised September, 2011
- Part 1: The Law
- Part 2: History, Joshua, Two Kings
- Part 3: History, 1 Chronicles, Esther
- Part 4: Wisdom, Literature, Job, Song of Songs
- Part 5: Major Prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel
- Part 6: Minor Prophets, Daniel Malachi
- Part 7: The Gospel and Acts
- Part 8: Letters, Revelation
- Click here to read the original NASB.
NASB Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation (http://www.lockman.org)
Click here to read the Permission to Quote the NASB on the Internet.