WHY THEN ARE NEW TRANSLATIONS THOUGHT NECESSARY?

The question should be asked, "Why in 1881 (and even today) did we need a new Bible?" There are at least five reasons for this rational:

1. The many archaic words, the "eth's" as in doeth, knoweth, heareth etc., and the "thee's" and "thou's";

2. The existence of the many variant (different) readings in the extant Greek manuscripts;

3. The finding of a significant number of ancient Greek manuscripts of the Bible in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries older than those used by Erasmus and believed, by many scholars, to be closer to the text of the apostles' autographs;

4. Itching ears – winds of doctrine; and

5. Greed for Money.

 We shall address each of these five, the first three being the so-called "justification" for the "need" to modernize and revise the King James Bible.

(1) ARCHAIC WORDS

There are only several hundred obsolete or archaic words remaining within the 1611 King James Bible – words such as "incontinent" (lack of self control, I Cor. 7:5) and "concupisence" (unholy desires, Rom. 7:8). These few could and should be brought up to date. The "eth" endings could also easily be changed ("doeth" to "do") although care must be taken as to its rendering else many times the actual meaning may be lost. This is due to Greek verb tenses which do not exist in English. For example, often the Greek word rendered "doeth" reflects continuous action. In such cases, a simple changing to "do" would not represent a faithful translation from the Greek. The "eth" ending which allows for such meanings thus has served a vital function in the King James Bible.

With regard to "ye" (plural), "thee" (singular) and "thou" (singular) which we find dispersed throughout the 1611 Bible, it is shocking to discover the great value that these 2nd person pronouns serve. O.T. Allis informs us that these were not contemporary words even in 1611!

"It is incorrect to claim that the 'thou' represents the usage of the 1611 period when the AV was prepared and that that usage is out of date and should be rejected for that very reason. Such a claim misrepresents the facts. The AV usage is not Jacobean or 17th century English. It is biblical English. The Greek of the New Testament like the Hebrew of the Old Testament distinguishes between the singular and the plural forms of the second person. The AV makes this distinction simply because NT Greek does so, and because that is the only way to translate the Bible correctly."1 (author's emphasis) The second person in English is rendered "you" in both the singular and the plural. Thus, when "you" is employed in a modern translation, one does not know if it is to be understood as singular or plural. However, "you", "ye", and "your" are always plural in the King James Bible whereas "thy", "thou", "thee" and "thine" always denote the singular – how easy.

singularPlural
1st PersonIWe
2nd PersonThou, Thee, Thy, ThineYe, You, Your
3rd PersonHe, She, ItThey

1 Oswald T. Allis, The New English Bible, The New Testament of 1961, A Comparative Study.(n.p., 1963), p.69. Dr. E.F. Hills concurs (The King James Version Defended, op cit., p.218.)

52


continued...