ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Psalms 78.1

Book: Psalms · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

1. Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

  1. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, 3. Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. (Psalms 78:1-3, ASV)
WEB

1. A contemplation by Asaph. Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.

  1. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, 3. Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. (Psalms 78:1-3, WEB)
KJV

1. Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. Maschil: or, A Psalm for Asaph to give instruction

  1. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: 3. Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. (Psalms 78:1-3, KJV)
YLT

1. An Instruction of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law, Incline your ear to sayings of my mouth.

  1. I open with a simile my mouth, I bring forth hidden things of old, 3. That we have heard and do know, And our fathers have recounted to us. (Psalms 78:1-3, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: TBD
  • Audience: TBD
  • Location: TBD
  • Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.