The Last one hundred years has seen a spate
   Of Bibles, other than the K.J.V.
Scarce one appears but it is out of date
   As swift as the once lauded J.B.P.

The '82 R.V. commenced the trend,
   Then the N.E.B. came, and the A.S.V.
Followed by G.N.B., still not the end,
   For N.A.S.V. came and N.I.V.

Nor do these end the flow, still they appear;
   The R.A.V. and now N.K.J.V.
All claiming to make Holy Writ more clear;
   How much more clear, I wonder, can it be?

It is most puzzling for the simple man
   Who sees that scholars often disagree;
While hosts of lesser linguists think they can
   Pronounce on versions new with certainty.

How very few among us are equipped
   With the scholastic gifts that can decide
The nuance of an ancient manuscript,
   And risk intellectual suicide?

If those we feel should know, cannot decide
   Which acronymic version is the best,
Who then, will be for us the safest guide?
   What for an ignorant one is the test?

'A little learning is a dangerous thing'
   So wrote the poet Alexander Pope;
Yet some a modicum of learning bring,
   Thinking they are well qualified to cope

With textual problems of profoundest kind;
   So they pontificate with zeal and zest,
And claim with pseudo-academic mind,
   That this or that new version is the best.

Thus doubts are sown in hearts where none had been,
   While many gladly wait to fan the flames
Of controversy, and confuse the scene,
   Pleading the warrant of illustriou names.

But famous names can hide perfidious hearts
   With worldly aims which can dispense with fact;
Far less concerned with truth than with the arts,
   They add to Scripture, or from it detract.

One can but hope they have no axe to grind,
   Such as a wish to be thought erudite,
And with the literati be aligned,
   Who merit the title 'neophyte'.

Only the Lord Who gave, can teach aright,
   And He alone can guide both thought and pen;
He gives translators that essential light
   And takes the darkness from the minds of men.

That man will best translate, or best revise,
   Who not on worldly reasoning depends,
But in humility uplifts his eyes
   And heart, and heavenly wisdom apprehends.

In faith he takes the Word, and tremblingly,
   With reverence profound, and godly fear,
Gazes therein and trusts that he may see
   How wondrously its several parts cohere.

Not his to augment truth, much less deny
   One single word therein, nor ought omit
Therefrom, nor dare one verse to falsify,
   Or strive to make the Word his theories fit.

This is God's declaration, here alone
   Is found by lettered men, and those untaught,
Salvation's plan, in peerless language shown;
   Wisest disclosure of divinest thought.

And he who on the Spirit's help relies,
   When handling this God-given Holy Word
Will clearly see (it should be no surprise)
   That Word and Spirit ever have concurred.

So let those who translate, and they who read
   Remember that this Word their Judge will be;
Let wise and simple to the Word give heed,
   Which shows both saint's and sinners' destiny.

     -  Norman R. Perry
     -  Bible League Quarterly
     September, 1991 "The Gospel Standard