Following my previous post, in which I had commented on Dr Michael Brown’s critique of the KJV, I found another interesting video in which Dr James White is interviewed and quizzed on the KJV controversy, which is worth watching. He discusses the subject a little bit more intelligently than Dr Michael Brown does, but not much better. I don’t intend to discuss everything that was said in the video; but only to briefly comment on another example of a supposedly “faulty translation” in the KJV that he provides. At around 13:47 minutes into the video he quotes Acts 5:30: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.” as an example of faulty translation, suggesting that the word “and” in that context is incorrect, because it implies that they killed Jesus first, and then they hanged him on a tree afterwards! But that is a failure on his part to read the KJV in its proper historical context, rather than a fault of the KJV. The word “and” in that context is used idiomatically to mean something like, “... whom they killed, and did so by hanging him on a tree”. This reading is confirmed by all contemporary translations, as the following examples will demonstrate (starting with the earliest):
Tyndale Bible 1534:
The God of oure fathers raysed vp Ie Iesus whom ye slewe and hanged on tre.
Coverdale Bible 1535:
The God of oure fathers hath raysed vp Iesus, who ye slewe, and hanged on tre.
Matthew’s Bible 1537:
The God of our father raysed vp Iesus whom ye slewe and hanged on tree.
The Great Bible 1539:
The God of oure fathers raysed vp Iesus, whom ye slewe, and hanged on tre.
Geneva Bible 1560:
The God of our fathers hath raised vp Iesus, whom ye slewe, and hanged on a tree.
Bishops Bible 1568:
The God of our fathers raysed vp Iesus, whom ye slewe, & hanged on tree.
King James Bible 1611:
The God of our fathers raised vp Iesus, whom yee slew and hanged on a tree.
King James Bible 1769:
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Webster’s Bible 1833:
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree:
So none of these guys were smart enough to figure this out, and we had to wait for the superior intelligence of James White, and our modern translators to come to that momentous realization? I don’t think so. They were translating according to the contemporary idiomatic usage of their time. The word “and” carries the implied meaning of, “and did so by …”. And none of that means that we should now “change the KJV”. The KJV is written in the idiomatic language of its time, and is best appreciated in the form that it was originally written. If somebody prefers to read a more modern translation, there is nothing wrong with that, and there are plenty to choose from. But I have yet to find a serious criticism of the KJV that is not more a reflection of the ignorance and bias of the critics, rather than a genuine issue with the KJV. James White isn’t faring any better than the rest. They are all tearing their brains out in order to find fault with the KJV, and all they succeed in doing is exposing their own ignorance instead.
The quotes from early Bible translations, by the way, came from a site called Textus Receptus Bibles, which is a great site for studying and comparing the early Bible translations. They also provide eBook editions of many of the old Bibles very cheaply, which are worth buying.
