# HCSB footnotes: are they necessary for proper understanding of the text?



## MichaelNZ (Dec 23, 2013)

I bought a new HCSB Bible today as the one I previously bought has a supposed picture of Christ inside the front cover. However, I noticed when I got home and looked at it that the footnotes that the other Bible has are missing in the new one. This concerned me especially because the HCSB in places uses modern American measures in place of Biblical measures. Is it necessary for the average person to have the footnotes to understand the text?

What should I do? The local Christian bookstore only stocks the HCSB with the picture of Jesus. Should I order a better HCSB online? Any suggestions?


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## RamistThomist (Dec 23, 2013)

MichaelNZ said:


> I bought a new HCSB Bible today as the one I previously bought has a supposed picture of Christ inside the front cover. However, I noticed when I got home and looked at it that the footnotes that the other Bible has are missing in the new one. This concerned me especially because the HCSB in places uses modern American measures in place of Biblical measures. Is it necessary for the average person to have the footnotes to understand the text?
> 
> What should I do? The local Christian bookstore only stocks the HCSB with the picture of Jesus. Should I order a better HCSB online? Any suggestions?



I don't think it changes the understanding of the text. I think the footnotes offer different textual readings, but a good commentary can probably supply those.


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## davdavis (Dec 23, 2013)

I've always found such attempts to "modernize" texts extremely annoying. I remember reading Robert Graves, "I Claudius" , where he felt he had to render all the Roman terms in modern English, eg. Regiment for Legion.
Strangely he used Zulu terms for weapons eg. Assegai for the Pilum or Roman Javelin. I hate the assumption that your so stupid your either dont know the terms or are not capable of looking them up.


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## jwithnell (Dec 23, 2013)

Any addition to the scriptures carry the risk of "editorial" comment which will reflect the biases of the translation team/editorial board/publisher. I find cross-references helpful. (Are these part of "footnotes" in your question?) I rarely use other footnotes except to check alternative translations for specific, difficult words in the text. You can also be aided by having a different translation in front of you too.


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