We understand that in every reading of every Bible there are words and ideas hard to be understood. For this we have Bible dictionaries and commentaries. We are not looking for a child’s Bible. The doctrines still must be carefully taught by qualified men.
We simply decry the use of words that no longer say what God meant them to say, and therefore must be brought up to date.
We are simply answering the claims of KJVO people that their book is to be honored above all. They should claim this no longer, in the light of the English errors I have discovered, all of which have been corrected by greater scholarship and more ancient texts, and a dictionary of modern English.
In the book of Matthew alone, for example, iyou have these things to deal with:
Matthew.
1:18. Espoused. Your average person may look up this word and find that today it means “married.” We speak of our marriage partners as “spouse.” But Joseph and Mary were not married. They were “betrothed”, “pledged”, “engaged.” Those modern translations do no harm to the Greek, but make the English more understandable. Though it is true that betrothal was as secure as marriage in those days, the actual marriage, the union of bodies, had not taken place. KJV doesn’t tell us that. All versions call Mary his wife in verse 24. But the marriage was still only an intended one as we read there was no physical relationship between the two, until after Jesus was born. Hence the modern translations add the idea of “as wife”, implying not quite married yet.
7:14. Strait and narrow. This phrase has become “straight and narrow” today. But both Greek words mean narrow. The English “straight” is not intended. Though the older English “strait” does indeed mean narrow, the modern translators ended the confusion here by using “small” or “constricted” to translate one of the Greek words.
8:6. Sick of the palsy. Did you know that palsy means “paralyzed”? Most people don’t. The new Bibles make it clear.
9:20. Issue of blood. This is simply “bleeding” or “hemorrhaging.” Who would know?
10:10. Scrip. A bag filled with necessary goods. I would have guessed “something to write with and on.” See the problem?
13:15. Waxed gross. Really, what is a modern reader to do when he comes to this phrase? How in the world would they figure out intuitively that “waxed gross” really means “grown dull”? They could read another translation… which is my point.
13:20. Anon. Immediately.
14:8. A charger. John the Baptist’s head was to be placed on a charger. Can you imagine how this is viewed? I was able to find no English translation, old or new, that uses this word. It simply means a dish, or a platter.
15:5. by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me. Jesus here speaks of gifts given to God, and how they sometimes slight our family responsibilities. Modern English simply says here, “whatever help you might otherwise have received from me,” I have given to God. This verse was always a puzzler to me. In today’s English it makes perfect sense.
15:17. cast out into the draught. This is the destination of all physical food, says Jesus. Mouth to belly to… what in the world is the “draught”? Is it pronounced “draft” or “drout” or what? Dictionary doesn’t help. This word is not in there. I know He’s talking about elimination of food from the body, but this word… Turns out that this old English word is simply a latrine. A sewer. Today, a toilet.
15:26. Meet. Adjective meaning “suitable”, not our verb meaning get together.
16:11. Leaven. Yeast.
17:2. Raiment. Clothing.
17:12. They did to Jesus whatsoever they listed. So, the enemies knew what they were going to do to Jesus, and made a list, and carried it out? No. This old English word means “determined.”
19:28. The regeneration is the time when the Kingdom is set up. But I thought we were “regenerated” now. Paul uses the same Greek word to describe what happens to us now. The word means a re-birth of something. The translators should have seen that Paul’s idea of rebirth of a person is not the same as the rebirth or “renewal” of the planet, as some modern translations have rendered it. Once more, accurate but misleading.
20:2. A penny a day? The Greek says denarius, as in the New King. That was a day’s wage. So that the text would be forever accurate, the more modern translators called it that, a day’s wage. How misleading is the idea of a “penny” in our day. Ellicott’s commentary says, “Its real equivalent is to be found in its purchasing power, and, as the average price of the unskilled labour of the tiller of the soil, it may fairly be reckoned as equal to about half-a-crown of our [British] present currency. It was, that is, in itself, an adequate and just payment.” A penny, in whatever modern standard of measurement, is a worthless thing, and no worker would spend a whole day for it. Again, misleading.
20:11. Goodman of the house. The landowner. The man in charge.
21:34. Husbandmen. Vinedressers.
22:4. Fatlings. Fatted calves etc.
25:4. Vessels are not boats. They are flasks or simply jars.
26:25. Thou hast said. We would say, “You said it!” In other words, out of your own mouth has come the truth. “Thou hast said” does not communicate today!
26:65. Rent means “tore.” Rent his clothes gives a totally different picture to a modern reader.
27:9. Jeremy is Jeremiah.
You get the point? And I skipped over many others. These are anywhere from “bumps in the road” to seriously misleading expressions. Why have to deal with them? Above all, how can someone demand that modern readers must deal with them or be accused of not even reading the Word of God?!
Older
Top
