It's sad that the Spanish Bible Controversy is riddled with lies and half truths. But as the battle rages among Fundamentalists and Evangelicals about which Bible is Spanish is the right one, I constanly see them using lies and half truths to defend their versions, instead of giving all the facts and letting the chips fall where they may.
On the subject of the Spanish Bible, you first have those who don't know anything about it. They have a certain version and use it, read it, and believe it, and don't know there are other versions. They are ignorant of the subject, and don't know their version is full of problems. These people need to be taught, and given a purer version of the scriptures.
But then you have those who do know about the problems in the Spanish Bible but they choose a certain version and dogmatically defend it alone against all others, oftentimes even attacking other versions in defense of their version alone. And rather than have an orderly, scholarly, and decent conversation about the differences among the various versions, they ATTACK others and their versions without pity. In their eyes, it's not about truth, but about who can come out as the "big dog" who yells the loudest and who is able to look like the guy who won the debate. But shouldn't the issue be about the "facts" and not about the "men" behind those versions?
For those who don't know, the versions dogmatically defended today include: The 1865, the 1909, the 1960, the Gomez, and the Valera 1602 Purified. But which of these is the best and why? Well, if you listen to those behind each one of these versions, they will tell you that it is THEIR version and all the others are not as good as THEIRS. But where are the facts? Usually, they won't give them to you, and you'll only get their opinion. But what I desire are the FACTS!
That's why I try not to give my opinion, rather to simply give the facts. And recently, I did a comparison chart on all these various versions to see which one is really the best, and the chart gives the fact that the Valera 1602 Purified is the best Spanish Bible. To view this chart, please go to:
There you will see examples from each version looking at over 200 verses, and you'll see that the only one that reads completely with the texts underlying the King James Bible is the Valera 1602 Purified.
What bothers me about the Spanish Bible Controversy, and those who defend their own versions, is how they do not focus on or give all the facts. They oftentimes omit certain truths in order to make their versions look better than they truly are. But we must never overlook the origins of modern Spanish Bibles. For, as we study the History of the Spanish Bible, we find a sad thing, modern Spanish Bibles have been messed with by so-called "Protestant Bible Societies" which mixed in either the catholic or the critical texts in their revisions of the original Reina-Valera Spanish reformation text.
That is to say, the "Protestant" Bible societies were guilty of mixing the Reina-Valera with the CATHOLIC texts, all so that their Bibles would be accepted when they distributed/sold them to catholic people.
(I have this information in my book, "The History and Truth About the Spanish Bible Controversy," found at: http://www.rrb3.com/mypub/books/hist_truth_spn_controversy.htm )
A prime example of this is the word "Verbo" now found in many modern Spanish Bibles. This word came from the Catholic text of SCIO, who was the first to use that word in Spanish, taking it from the Catholic latin vulgate text reading of "verbum." But before that, all PROTESTANT Spanish Bibles read "Palabra" in reference to Jesus Christ in John 1:1. The only Spanish Bible today that retains the protestant word "Palabra" is the Valera 1602 Purified. All others use the catholic word "Verbo." For more on this, please read Gail Riplinger's fine treatise about this word found at:
For more information about so-called "Protestant" Bible Societies maliciously mixing catholic and critical texts into the Reina-Valera Spanish Bible, please read my book at the following link: http://www.rrb3.com/mypub/books/hist_truth_spn_controversy.htm
Another thing about the Spanish Bible that people want to lie about or give a half truth about is the word "Jehová." Those who use other versions do not give all the facts about this word and why it is in their versions, rather they want us to believe it's right Spanish word, and the only Spanish word that ever has been and ever should be used in the Spanish Bible. They refuse any evidence to the contrary.
The facts, however, prove otherwise. For in the Protestant translation of the Psalms of Juan de Valdez printed in 1537, we find him using SEÑOR rather than Jehová. Why is this important? It's because the use of the word "JEHOVA" in modern Spanish Bibles rather than the KJV reading of LORD (SEÑOR) has lead to the influx of many Jehovah Witnesses gaining much ground in Spanish-speaking countries, and made it easier for them to turn countless millions of hispanics to their false teachings. This is a great problem that cannot be denied. But why do Spanish Bibles use Jehovah instead of LORD? The answer is a little surprising.
And, as we read the preface of the original 1569 Spanish Bible of Cassidoro de Reina, we find the reason why he chose to use Jehová rather than SEÑOR. For it is there that he ATTACKS the Jews for their not wanting to attempt to pronounce the name of God. He then ridicules them and calls them "supersticious" for their reverance of that holy name in putting SEÑOR instead of Jehová. He further states he chose to use Jehovah instead just to be contrary to the Jewish custom of not pronouncing the word out of reverance for that holy name.
But Reain then writes that if you are reading his version, and you don't want to try to pronounce the word, then you can just read SEÑOR in each place the word Jehová is found. That is, Reina said it wasn't wrong to use SEÑOR and that you could use the word instead of Jehová.
Today, the only Spanish Bible to follow the King James, and the older Spanish Bibles in using SEÑOR instead of Jehovah is the Valera 1602 Purified, and it does it because it knew Jehová was not only inserted into the text because Reina was anti-semetic, but because it showed reverance to God's holy name. That is, if you use a Valera 1602 Purified Spanish Bible, you WILL NOT BE DECEIVED BY THE JEHOVAH WITNESSES!
There are many more things that could be said about the Valera 1602 Purified Spanish Bible. But the imporant thing is that it is a true Reformation text. That is the translators took all the old Spanish Protestant Bibles and used them in their work. They studied them verse by verse with the textus receptus, the King James, the Hebrew Masoretic text, and the old Protestant versions. They did not follow the modern Bible Society texts.
With this stated, my desire is that those who are seeking more about the truth of which Spanish Bible is the best will read the information given here, and will visit my site at: http://www.rrb3.com/ for more. For my desire is to simply give the FACTS, not my OPINION about the Spanish Bible Issue.
