Grrr....A Rant on Headings in Bible Translations

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Today's post is a bit of a rant. I purchased a "readers Bible" a couple years ago. I was intrigued by the advertisement that stated it gets rid of things that often get in the way of reading the Bible smoothy, with the verse numbering removed, the text place into a single column,  into what we understand as paragraphing. 

OK, all that is wonderful, but...

I was looking at getting another one, because the first one I had gotten was disappointing. I didn't get it because - 1) my wife said, "Do you really need another Bible?" 2) keep reading and see if you can figure it out.

I examine it online, and I found something else that I'd like to see removed, personally, something that seems even more invasive to the reading of the text than either verse numbers or whether or not there are 2 columns of text per page. Of what am I speaking? The ridiculous headings that have come to be found in most Bibles. 

These headings are almost like chapter titles, but even worse. Too often, they are an attempt to summarize what is happening in the following text.

There are three glaring problems with these section headings (there may be more, but these are the substance of my rant).

First, they are not a part of the Biblical text. This is a huge problem since there are many who seem to think that when reading the text out loud, especially in a public setting, these heading are read as if they are part of the text. (I have heard pastors and lay readers do this, one should know better.)

Closely connected to this is the second issue, that many people believe these heading are as inspired and correct at the Scriptural text of God's Word.

Which brings us to the third problem. Too often these headings inaccurately lead to conclusions which the God never intended the authors to communicate. 

I will use one example to point out the unwitting confusion this causes.

There is a heading at Genesis 8:20 God's Covenant with Noah. Yes, God does speak His  covenant TO Noah, but if you read the Scriptural text, the heading misses something - I would say it is an incredible something. See if you can figure it out. 

Here is Genesis 9:13-17 (I will highlight a couple things to help you see clearly this text which I cut and pasted from the ESV)  12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

So, did you notice it? The heading calls it God's covenant with Noah, but that is so very incomplete. It is God's covenant with every living creature. It is God's covenant with you and me. 

You know, it is tough enough to keep one's own perspective out of translating the text of Scripture from the original languages. But, adding headings to different passages of Scripture allows fallible, sinful humans to do their own thing, add their own interpretation, and do so in a very slick manner - without having to do much with play to much with the text.

I don't like the headings in any translation of Scripture, but they seem to be part and parcel of putting a translation of the Scriptural text into English. To my way of thinking, when they could be removed to allow a simple "reading of the text of Scripture so that it becomes more familiar to us" (my paraphrase of the intention of a Reader's Bible) those headings should truly be removed.

Of course, better yet, get those interpretive headings out of every translation.

Of course, who am I that people will listen to me? This is just my rant, to get it off my chest! I have already written letters to different Bible publishers in the past, and now to a couple publishers who have put out "reader's editions" of the Scripture. I guess it is really disappointing that my own church body, in publishing their own "Reader's Edition" has followed suit. 

Seriously, what is more intrusive to reading the text smoothly? Verse numbers? 1 -vs- 2 columns of text on a page? 

OR paragraph heading that are not a part of the Scriptural text in their original language?

(sarcastic mode on) Yeah, I suppose it is the first two - verse numbers and columns. (sarcastic mode off)

I encourage you to get into the Scripture! Pray the Holy Spirit guide you in understanding of God's Word! Read the text! Trust the Spirit to guide you into all truth, and ignore the headings!

Peace of the Lord be with you.