How does the Amplified Bible expand Greek words into English?
The Amplified Bible expands Greek terms by taking the Greek New Testament and inserting multiple English words directly into the text whenever several English words are needed to enlarge on one Greek word. This produces word-after-word phrasing that describes the original meaning, though it does not read smoothly.
Les explains that the Amplified Bible is a good study Bible because it takes the Greek of the New Testament and, when four or five English words are required to enlarge on a Greek word, places them right in the text. The result is not smooth reading; it is word after word describing the original. He illustrates this with apostasia, where a footnote gives “the departure” instead of “a falling away,” and notes that early translations such as Tyndale and Geneva also rendered it “the departure.”