On December 25, we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
I want to make sure that you read the Luke 2 version of the birth of Jesus – so take a sip of coffee, click the following, and start reading.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%202&version=ESV,NASB1995,KJV, NLT
Yes, that was a trick. You will see four translations.
Look at the King James Version and read Luke 2:1-20. It took me one minute and twenty seconds to read, and I stumbled a few times.
You just read the KJV (King James Version) and not the ESV (English Standard Version), the NASB1995 (New American Standard 1995 update), or the NLT (New Living Translation).
But since you have all four translations open (though small if reading on a mobile device), let’s play Bible scholar. Can you think of a better thing to do during the Christmas season?
Drinking hot chocolate? Opening presents? Preparing dinner? All good, but we must be students of the Bible!
Compare verse 5 … (see the differences in translation):
Betrothed (ESV); Engaged (NASB); Espoused (KJV); Engaged (NLT)
Compare verse 7 … (note the differences):
Swaddling cloths (ESV); Cloths (NASB); Swaddling (KJV); Snugly in strips of cloth (NLT)
Compare verse 9 … (differences again):
Great fear (ESV); Terribly frightened (NASB); Sore afraid (KJV); Terrified (NLT).
I will read the King James Version at my house on Christmas Day because I like the traditional, if not archaic, words of espoused, swaddling, and sore afraid. We also read the words in the KJV – came to pass, lo, and good tidings.
I was raised with the King James, and this version brings back the memories of my father reading Luke 2 on Christmas Day.
Now that we have practiced reading Luke 2 in this Interruption and have become somewhat scholastic on the subject matter, I hope that you read Luke 2 with your family on Christmas Day.
My other thoughts on Christmas Day, besides reading Luke 2, are, “Lo, where are my presents? Good tidings, hopefully, with what I get!”
Also, if I get clothes as gifts, I’m sore afraid they will be swaddling.