"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." -Luke 2:14
While
this is a beautiful sentiment – this is really a poor translation of Luke 2:14
which largely stems from the King James Version (KJV). My favorite is the
Douay-Rheims Bible (DRB) which was published in 1609, (Bruno, 2011) 2 years
before the KJV (1611 AD) (Wallace, 2004). My contention is the KJV copied much
from the DRB, as in many verses the similarities are just too great to be
wholly distinct translations. Where the KJV differs from the DRB, it leaves one
to question the veracity of the novel translation.
Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace
to men of good will. (DRB)
The
meaning here is quite different! Yes, they are still pleading for peace on
earth, but not necessarily to all men, as the KJV (and some other versions)
state it – why would they be wishing peace to men of ill-will? No, the peace on
earth is to go to men of good will.
Other
versions considered to be quite literal, both Protestant and Catholic state the
peace in a limited way as well:
Glory to
God in the highest heaven,
and on
earth peace among those whom he favours! (NRSVACE)
Glory to
God in the highest
and on
earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. (NABRE)
Glory to
God in the highest heaven,
and on
earth peace to all those on whom his favor rests. (NCB)
Glory to
God in the highest heaven,
and on
earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. (NIV)
Glory to
God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men [a]with
whom He is pleased. (NASB)
References
Bruno,
N. M. (2011). Matthew Carey’s Douay-Rheims Bible. https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/wpmudev-hosting-hbu-files/uploads/sites/27/2015/12/Bruno_MatthewCarey.pdf
Wallace,
D. B. (2004). Why I do not think the King James Bible is the best translation
available today. Bible.org. https://bible.org/article/why-i-do-not-think-king-james-bible-best-translation-available-today
