1 Chronicles 29:15 "and there is none remaining" or "and without hope" - NKJV, NASB, NIV blunder.
“none abiding” or “without hope”?
1 Chronicles 29:15 KJB - "For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on earth are as a shadow, AND THERE IS NONE ABIDING."
NKJV (NIV, NASB, MEV, ISV) - "For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, As were all our fathers; Our days on earth are as a shadow, AND WITHOUT HOPE."
This is pretty straight forward in the King James Bible. There is none abiding here on this earth, we are just passing through and soon die. The common sense reading of "AND THERE IS NONE ABIDING” is also found in Coverdale 1535, The Great Bible 1540, Matthew's Bible 1549, the Bishops' Bible 1568, the Geneva Bible 1587, Young's 1898 - "and there is none abiding.", the English Revised Version 1885, the ASV 1901 - "and there is no abiding.", The Ancient Hebrew Bible 1907 - "and there is none abiding.", the Jewish translations of JPS 1917, 1936 Hebrew Publishing Company, the New English Bible 1970, the RSV 1954, The Word of Yah Bible 1993, God's First Truth 1999, Green’s literal 2005, World English Bible 2000, The Yah Sacred Scriptures 2001, Mebust Bible 2007, The Hebrew Transliteration Scriptures 2010, The New European Version 2010, The Katapi New Standard Bible 2012, The Biblos Bible 2013, The Hebrew Names Version 2014, and the English Standard Version 2001-2016 - "and there is no abiding."
Even the so called Greek Septuagint reads like the KJB - "ὡς σκιὰ αἱ ἡμέραι ἡμῶν ἐπὶ γῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπομονή." = "our days are as a shadow upon the earth AND THERE IS NO REMAINING."
English Translation of the Greek Septuagint - "our days upon the earth are as a shadow AND THERE IS NO REMAINING."
Jewish Publication Society Old Testament 1917 - "AND THERE IS NONE ABIDING."
The Ancient Hebrew Bible 1907 - "AND THERE IS NONE ABIDING."
This online Hebrew Interlinear Old Testament - "as a shadow our days on the earth AND NONE ABIDING."
The Jewish Virtual Library 1994 Tanach [Full Text] - "our days on the earth are as a shadow, AND THERE IS NONE ABIDING."
The Hebrew Transliteration Scriptures 2010 - "our days on earth are as a shadow, and there is NONE ABIDING."
The Koster Scriptures 1998 have "our days on earth are like a shadow AND WITHOUT PERMANENCE."
The Complete Apostle's Bible 2003 and The New Heart English Bible 2010 say: "our days upon the earth are as a shadow, AND THERE IS NO REMAINING."
The Easy-to-Read Version 2006 says: "Our time on earth is like a passing shadow, AND WE CANNOT STOP IT."
The Contemporary English Version 1996 reads: "AND WE WILL SOON BE GONE, like a shadow that suddenly disappears."
And The New Living Bible 2015 says: "Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, GONE SO SOON WITHOUT A TRACE."
Foreign language versions that agree with the sense of the KJB that “there is none abiding” are Luther’s German bible 1545, the Spanish Reina Valera 1960, 1995 - “y nuestros días sobre la tierra, cual sombra que no dura.” and the Portuguese Almeida - “e não há permanência”.
However again the NKJV joins the NIV, NASB, Holman Standard with the ridiculous reading of: "our days on earth are as a shadow, AND WITHOUT HOPE."
The previous Douay-Rheims 1610 and Douay 1950 were similar to the meaning found in the KJB. They read: "Our days on earth are as a shadow, AND THERE IS NO STAY."
The 1970 St. Joseph New American Bible was OK too, with: "Our life on earth is like a shadow THAT DOES NOT ABIDE."
BUT The 1985 New Jerusalem bible now reads: "our days on earth fleeting as a shadow AND WITHOUT HOPE."
The Jehovah Witness New World Translation is like the NKJV and New Jerusalem bible as well. It reads: "Like a shadow our days are upon the earth AND THERE IS NO HOPE."
The KJB is right, as always.
One of the main points of David’s public prayer before the congregation of Israel was to emphasize the confidence and hope they all shared in the living God. “and David the king also rejoiced with great joy. Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.”
For these versions like the NKJV, NIV, NASB to then turn around and have king David say that they were “WITHOUT HOPE” is absurd.
We certainly do have a hope in God as the whole passage shows the people of God praising Him for His great goodness towards them and His mighty power on their behalf. The NKJV just blundered badly and followed other corrupt versions here, as it does in many other places.
ALL of grace, believing the Book - the King James Holy Bible.
Will Kinney
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