Top Ten Errors in The Passion Translation  🔗 **Source:** [Top Ten Errors in The Passion Translation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: [bible-translation, textual-criticism, passion-translation, source-provenance, theology] > author: Ward on Words > source: Ward on Words > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38 > date created: > > # 🏷️ Title: Top Ten Errors in The Passion Translation > <!-- deep-read:sections start --> ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) - [🔄 Refactor Appendix](#-refactor-appendix--top-ten-errors-in-the-passion-translation) - [🧰 Template Library](#-template-library) ### 🔗 References - [Top Ten Errors in The Passion Translation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38) - [Minor Prophets channel](https://www.youtube.com/@MinorProphets) - [Dukhrana Syriac tools](https://dukhrana.com/) ## 📝 Summary - Mark Ward interviews pastor David Fish about ten passages and footnotes they argue expose recurring translation problems in *The Passion Translation*. - Their central claim is methodological: the work often depends on English-language paraphrases and disputed Syriac claims rather than translating the Greek or Hebrew source text. - The examples matter because several changes do more than simplify wording; they alter punishment, salvation, ecclesiology, prophecy, and spoken-decree theology. - Readers, pastors, publishers, Bible-software vendors, and ministries citing the translation are the main stakeholders. - The evidence is substantial enough to require a source audit, but this video remains an adversarial analysis rather than an independent peer-reviewed study. ## 📖 Main Content - **John 14:16:** Fish argues that a footnote turns the Greek loanword *paraklētos* into a fabricated Syriac etymology and then calls the Holy Spirit a second “savior.” - **Hebrews 12:6:** The wording softens scourging or chastisement into being drawn close, which the speakers connect to a theological premise that believers are “unpunishable.” - **Romans 8:9:** A footnote changes “does not belong to him” into “cannot be himself” by confusing a personal pronoun with a reflexive form. - **Ephesians 6:21–22:** The version adds a claim that Tychicus will prophesy over the audience, a clause the speakers say is absent from the Greek. - **Colossians 3:25:** “Wrongdoer” and repayment for wrongdoing become “disciple” and repayment for learning, weakening the passage’s judgment language. - **Psalm 34:14:** “Seek peace and pursue it” becomes a life motto and generalized practice, accompanied by a source explanation the speakers dispute. - **Galatians 6:6:** The 2017 edition adds “a sharing of wealth takes place,” while a later revision removes the line without preserving a visible account of the change. - **Colossians 2:17:** A wooden rendering of “body” encourages a church-centered interpretation that the context does not require. - **John 3:30:** A footnote says the church becomes Christ’s increase, which the speakers treat as an imported ecclesiology. - **Psalm 81:10:** The version expands the verse into spoken-decree language. Fish reports that Psalm 81 contains 45% more words than the ESV and alleges broad dependence on the Living Bible and *The Message*. ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:02:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38&t=132) Greek loanwords cannot support invented Syriac roots - Fish says the Syriac Peshitta translates the Greek and contains Greek loanwords. - The critique is not that Syriac evidence never matters; it is that a borrowed Greek word cannot carry the proposed two-root Syriac derivation. #### ⏱️ [00:12:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38&t=722) Theology appears to drive Hebrews 12:6 - The speakers compare “chastises” with “draws you to himself.” - Their concern is that a preferred doctrine determines the English rather than the sentence’s lexical and literary context. #### ⏱️ [00:19:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38&t=1152) Romans 8:9 changes through a pronoun error - The disputed footnote treats “of him” as reflexive and links it to the prodigal son “coming to himself.” - Fish says the grammatical forms are different, so the comparison cannot bear the proposed meaning. #### ⏱️ [00:25:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38&t=1507) A good doctrine can still be an unlawful insertion - The added prophecy clause in Ephesians becomes the clearest general rule in the discussion. - Agreement with a doctrine does not authorize placing it in a passage where the source text does not state it. #### ⏱️ [00:41:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38&t=2472) Revision needs provenance - The Galatians example distinguishes responsible correction from silent removal. - Readers need edition history that shows what changed, why it changed, and which source supported the old reading. #### ⏱️ [00:52:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38&t=3156) Expansion can expose source dependence - The Psalm 81 comparison moves beyond one disputed word to length, wording, and borrowing patterns. - The allegation of copy-and-paste dependence needs a published parallel-text corpus so others can reproduce it. ## 📚 References - [Video source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38) - [Dukhrana Biblical Research](https://dukhrana.com/) — Syriac text, lexicon, and translation comparison tools mentioned in the discussion. - [John 14](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014&version=NRSVUE) - [Hebrews 12](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2012&version=NRSVUE) - [Romans 8](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208&version=NRSVUE) - The video also refers to prior research by David Fish, John-Mark Baker, and Mike Winger; exact publication links are not supplied in the transcript. ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - Ward asks Fish to test ten representative passages rather than offering a general dislike of the translation. - Fish argues that the first example mistakes a Greek loanword in Syriac for a native word with a hidden etymology. - The middle examples show a repeated pattern: language about punishment, belonging, prophecy, wrongdoing, and money changes in ways that align with a theological preference. - Ward and Fish distinguish paraphrase from translation. A paraphrase can be useful when labeled, but readers should not be told that an interpretive addition is an original-language insight. - The closing Psalm example broadens the charge from isolated mistakes to editorial provenance, attribution, revision history, and institutional use. ## 📰 Newsletter The most useful lesson here is larger than one Bible edition: translation claims need an audit trail. Ward and Fish compare ten passages where English additions are presented as Greek or Syriac insight, then ask whether theology is steering the text. If you teach from any modern translation, the practical habit is simple: compare editions, inspect footnotes, and keep original-language claims reproducible. [Watch the full discussion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9e74NB6w38). ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Publish a reproducible passage-comparison worksheet and measure whether readers can distinguish translation, paraphrase, and commentary. #### OSPO - Treat public-domain text, licensed translations, and unattributed borrowing as separate provenance cases; document source and edition history. #### Community - Moderate discussion around evidence and methods, not denominational insults; invite trained Syriac and Greek reviewers. #### WordPress - **Core:** No direct code action; preserve revision attribution and readable diffs in publishing workflows. - **Core Performance:** No direct performance action; support fast parallel-text rendering if such tools are built. - **Core AI:** Require citations and uncertainty labels when AI explains original-language claims. - **Core Program Team:** Coordinate editorial provenance, accessibility, and moderation standards for educational publishing projects. - **Mobile:** Keep footnotes, source links, and revision history usable on small screens. - **Playground:** Host a reproducible comparison demo without installing a site. - **Community:** Offer sessions on source literacy and respectful disagreement. - **Training:** Teach the difference between translation, paraphrase, commentary, and doctrinal application. - **Marketing:** Avoid accuracy claims that outrun published review evidence. - **Support:** Give readers a clear path to report disputed wording and edition mismatches. - **Design:** Show source text, translation, footnote, and reviewer comment as distinct layers. - **Documentation:** Publish methodology, reviewer qualifications, errata, and edition changes. - **Photos:** Not applicable to this source; the evidence is textual. - **TV:** Require captions and link the passages discussed. - **Polyglots:** Distinguish translation choices from source-language claims in localized teaching. - **Accessibility:** Make parallel-text tables navigable by headings and linear reading order. - **Meta:** Preserve timestamps and source links when hosting educational discussions. - **CLI:** A comparison tool could export verse, edition, and source data in a reviewable format. - **Hosting:** No special hosting action beyond durable archives and versioned backups. - **Tide:** Not applicable to this source; no plugin quality claim is being tested. - **Openverse:** Not applicable to the textual claims; media provenance rules remain relevant. - **Themes:** Provide readable long-form footnotes and comparison tables. - **Plugins:** Build citation and version-history tools that do not blur source text with commentary. #### The WPOCC - Fund open, peer-reviewable biblical-language education only if it publishes methods, conflicts, and source licenses. ### FAIR - Keep translation data portable, source-attributed, versioned, and inspectable outside one vendor’s interface. ## 🧪 Hypotheses - Readers shown labeled source, translation, paraphrase, and commentary layers identify interpretive additions more accurately. - Silent revision reduces trust more than a public errata trail for the same correction. - Original-language footnotes receive less scrutiny when they affirm a reader’s existing theology. - A parallel-text corpus can confirm or refute the alleged dependence on existing English paraphrases. - Ministries reduce doctrinal overreach when teaching policies require two independent translations and a commentary check. ### 📊 Methodology - Build a preregistered corpus of every disputed passage across editions of *The Passion Translation*, the Greek or Hebrew source, Syriac witnesses where relevant, and cited English sources. - Recruit independent scholars with Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac competence; blind them to the video’s verdicts. - Code additions, omissions, semantic shifts, citations, and edition changes. - Test reader comprehension with labeled versus unlabeled paraphrase and footnote conditions. ### ❓ Questions - Which examples remain disputed after independent specialists review the exact editions? - Does the publisher maintain a complete public revision log? - How much wording can be traced to prior English paraphrases? - What disclosure standard should separate translation from devotional expansion? - Which ministries built teaching claims on footnotes later removed or revised? ### 🔮 Future Research - Publish the alleged 600 Psalm parallels with searchable source alignment. - Compare error rates across several single-author and committee translations. - Study how denominational agreement changes readers’ willingness to verify a footnote. - Track whether transparent errata restore trust after a provenance failure. ### 💡 Implications - **Practice:** Compare source, translation, and commentary before building doctrine on a novel footnote. - **Policy:** Publishers need visible edition histories and attribution rules. - **Security:** The relevant risk is epistemic integrity, not software security. - **Education:** Biblical literacy should include translation-method literacy. - **Funding:** Independent language review and open comparison corpora are shared educational infrastructure. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment - Reading level estimate: transcript language is roughly grade 10–12 because it mixes conversational speech with Greek, Syriac, and theological terms. #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: on-screen Logos comparisons; improve with a ten-row source/translation table. #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: a full spoken interview; improve with chapter markers and a short audio recap. #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: definitions and analogies; improve with a glossary for loanword, reflexive pronoun, and formal equivalence. #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: viewers can reproduce lookups; improve with a guided passage-audit worksheet. #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: repeated source-to-claim comparisons; improve with explicit evidence grades for each example. #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: interviewer–guest dialogue; improve with moderated review by specialists who disagree. #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: enough references for independent checking; improve with a self-paced comparison packet. #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: not applicable; improve through a provenance “family tree” analogy if helpful. ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - The saved transcript supports linear reading; verse tables need explicit headers and captions. #### Keyboard navigation - YouTube controls are keyboard operable, but chapter links would reduce navigation cost. #### Contrast and readability - Ensure on-screen Greek and Syriac text meets contrast and size requirements. #### Text resizing and reflow - Parallel-text layouts must reflow at 200% zoom without forcing horizontal reading. #### Media and captions - A transcript is present; captions need correction for names, book references, and technical terms. #### Forms and interactions - Any comparison tool needs labeled search fields, errors, and 24-by-24-pixel minimum targets. #### Standards reference - Check WCAG 2.2 AA criteria 1.2.2, 1.3.1, 1.4.3, 1.4.10, 2.1.1, 2.4.6, and 2.5.8. ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - The discussion is rooted in English-language evangelical debate; add Eastern Christian and Syriac scholarly voices. #### Inclusive language - The speakers generally critique claims rather than identity, though phrases such as “actual scholars” can sound dismissive. #### Neurodiversity support - Clear chapters and a ten-item visual list would reduce working-memory load. #### Representation - The review would be stronger with direct participation from qualified translators and the publisher. #### Psychological safety - State that doctrinal disagreement does not justify harassment; moderate comments around evidence. ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - The strongest passages compare a specific wording, a grammatical or lexical claim, and a proposed source. - The speakers state their own limits in Syriac and call for tool-based checking rather than pretending complete expertise. - The ten-case structure supports a pattern claim better than a single anecdote would. #### Fallacies - **Appeal to authority:** “actual scholars” is weaker than naming the relevant lexicon or consensus source. Fix: cite the exact editions and specialist reviews. - **Poisoning the well:** comparing an undisclosed manuscript claim to Mormonism can bias the audience before the manuscript evidence is examined. Fix: state the access and provenance problem directly. - **Hasty generalization risk:** ten serious examples can justify caution, but not every line or edition is thereby proven wrong. Fix: publish a sampled or complete corpus. - **Intent inference:** connecting every change to a charismatic agenda may exceed the textual evidence. Fix: separate demonstrated semantic shifts from claims about motive. #### Tone of voice - The tone is firm, technical, pastoral, and at times incredulous. Humor keeps the long review moving but can make an adversarial case feel settled before outside review. ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - **Deny:** The speakers report that prior defenses deny source problems by calling additions “Aramaic insights,” but the defended party is not heard directly here. - **Attack:** The video criticizes competence and trustworthiness; some language targets credibility rather than only the wording. - **Reverse victim/offender:** No complete response is available to establish a reversal pattern. - The evidence supports identifying rhetorical moves, not diagnosing a person or institution. ## 🎯 Conclusion The video makes a serious, testable case that translation, paraphrase, commentary, and theology have been mixed without enough disclosure. The responsible next step is not tribal certainty; it is a public corpus, independent language review, edition-level citations, and a visible errata history. ## 🔄 Refactor Appendix — Top Ten Errors in The Passion Translation ### 📚 Literature Atoms ### [H1] Loanwords cannot support invented source etymologies > [!quote] ID:rw_01ky7v5mj2rt3x9j684jarwv06 > “what you actually find in the Syriak bashittita is a quite significant amount of Greek loan words.” **Context & use**: - 06:08–06:27; the first passage’s claimed Syriac derivation. - Use when testing whether an original-language footnote starts from the right language. **Tags**: #xref #articleseed **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ky7v5mj2rt3x9j684jarwv06) <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ### [H2] Agreement never licenses textual insertion > [!quote] ID:rw_01ky7v5p7jfk2x93yfejjcqvqj > “we are not permitted to alter the word of God by inserting good doctrines” **Context & use**: - 27:02–27:24; the added prophecy clause. - Use as the ethical boundary between interpretation and translation. **Tags**: #xref #aphorisms **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ky7v5p7jfk2x93yfejjcqvqj) <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ### [H3] Expansion signals a provenance audit > [!quote] ID:rw_01ky7v5r84ztpqf84tz8ev27gf > “this entire psalm Psalm 81 is has uh 45% more words” **Context & use**: - 52:36–53:12; the Psalm corpus allegation. - Use as an investigation trigger, not as proof by itself. **Tags**: #xref **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ky7v5r84ztpqf84tz8ev27gf) <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ### 🧠 Permanent Candidates #### [P1] Translation trust depends on visible provenance **Claim**: A translation earns trust by showing where its wording came from and how each edition changed. **Evidence pointer**: [[#H3]] **Scope & conditions**: Applies to public-facing translations and paraphrases; it does not require exposing private reviewer identities. **Links**: - [[Source Provenance]] — because extends the origin trail into editorial accountability. - [[Silent Revision]] — because contrasts with a public errata history. - [[Bible Translation]] — because applies-in textual scholarship and ministry teaching. <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue - [F1] Locate the claimed 600 Psalm parallels and assess whether the dataset is public. #xref - [F2] Compare the 2017 and current Galatians 6:6 wording. #xref ### → Things 3 - [ ] Find the publisher’s public revision policy and errata log — translation provenance #things <!-- deep-read:sections end --> 📄 **Full text:** [[Full Document Contents/Articles/Top Ten Errors in The Passion Translation.md|Top Ten Errors in The Passion Translation by Ward on Words]] ## Highlights - Pashita is uh unanimously considered by scholars, actual scholars to be a translation from Greek. Meaning what you actually find in the Syriak bashittita is a quite significant amount of Greek loan words. Meaning words that are just taken from the Greek language. So there is no actual Aramaic or Syriak word. So they just take it uh from from the Greek. That's actually what's happening here. So all Syriak scholars >> unanimously agree that the word paracle ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ky7v5mj2rt3x9j684jarwv06)) - Note: A claimed Syriac derivation is challenged as a Greek loanword. - Tags: atom/literature/h1, bible-translation - even if actually it's a good doctrine, we are not permitted to alter the word of God by inserting good doctrines, even doctrines we believe in where they don't belong. Right? So I cannot say in Genesis 1 in the beginning was the holy trinity >> right? >> Um I believe in the trinity but I cannot put it there because it doesn't belong there. So likewise uh as a continuationist I would believe that in some form a much reduced form um the ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ky7v5p7jfk2x93yfejjcqvqj)) - Note: Doctrinal agreement does not permit inserting material absent from the source text. - Tags: atom/literature/h1, translation-ethics - Version? What's going on here? >> Right. So, uh, a couple couple things. one this this entire psalm Psalm 81 is has uh 45% more words in uh the passion translation than the uh ESV. So I want people to just think about that. And actually I've been recently this is this is a revelation for your audience. I haven't divulged this yet but I've been working on the Psalms in the Passion Translation and essentially all of the Psalms are um a mishmash of copy paste ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ky7v5r84ztpqf84tz8ev27gf)) - Note: Word-count expansion is presented as a signal for source and attribution review. - Tags: textual-criticism, atom/literature/h2 - Version? What's going on here? >> Right. So, uh, a couple couple things. one this this entire psalm Psalm 81 is has uh 45% more words in uh the passion translation than the uh ESV. So I want people to just think about that. And actually I've been recently this is this is a revelation for your audience. I haven't divulged this yet but I've been working on the Psalms in the Passion Translation and essentially all of the Psalms are um a mishmash of copy paste ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ky7v5tcrnv671sa6c1a8epbq)) - Note: The speaker alleges extensive dependence on existing English paraphrases. - Tags: atom/literature/h2, source-provenance ## Links - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Single-Translator Scripture Projects Without Team Structure Produce Doctrinal Advocacy Indistinguishable From Translation]] — evidence-for: unsourced Syriac derivations, doctrinal insertions, and unexplained expansion show why translation claims need reproducible review. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/The Passion Translation Is the NARs Scripture Distribution Vehicle]] — applies-in: the textual changes documented here identify what the translation can carry into devotional formation.