Sometimes when studying a particular version of the Bible, the question we ask ought not to be, “Why did this translation pull this verse out?” Instead, the question should sometimes be, “Why does this translation have this verse in here to begin with?”
“It is of some historical interest in this regard that when the Revised Standard Version (RSV) was published in 1952, it set off an enormous storm of protest. While this antagonism focused in part on some questionable renditions, such as “young woman” for “virgin” in Isaiah 7: 14, the major point of contention had to do with “all the words they left out of the Bible.” But did the RSV translators “leave words out,” or had the KJV included extra words —hundreds of words —that were not a part of the original biblical writings? The answer to these questions has to do with the historical discipline known as textual criticism. By definition this is the scholarly discipline that sorts through the manuscript evidence for the Bible and tries to determine on scientific grounds which readings (or “variants”) are most likely to be original.” (Gordon D Fee & Mark L Strauss, How To Choose A Translation For All It’s Worth: A Guide To Understanding And Using Bible Versions, 1788-1793 (Kindle Edition); Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan)
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