At Parbar westward

1 Chronicles 26:18 At Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar.

One preacher, trying to be funny, said that 1 Chronicles 26:18 is a verse that will solve your problems. How does that work? Well, by the time you find the verse and then figure out what it means, you will have forgotten about your problems!

There is perhaps some bit truth in that humor. Nevertheless, 1 Chronicles 26:18 is just as inspired and infallible as John 3:16 or Psalm 23. It is not just as perspicuous (clear, easy to understand).

“Happy are those who dwell in God’s house: for, as they are well fed, well taught, and well employed, so they are well guarded. Men attended at the gates of the temple, but angels attend at the gates of the New Jerusalem, Rev 21 12.” Matthew Henry

Coverdale Bible

Taverner: In the watch houses on the highway westward four: two in the house.

Great Bible: In Pharbar toward the west two at the going up, and two in Pharbar.

Geneva: In Parbar toward the West were four by the paved street, and two in Parbar.

(Geneva note: “Which was an house wherein they kept the instruments of the Temple.)

Bishops: In Parbar toward the west two at the going up, and two in Pharbar.

(Has the same note as Geneva.)

There are lots of ideas and opinions about what Parbar means: the annex, a building adjacent to the temple, the chamber of the vessels, the colonnade, the court, the courtyard, the covered courtyard, the large building, the portico, the western pavilion.

• “The word is supposed to be of Persian origin…”
• “It would seem that Parbar was…”
• “In 1 Chron 26:18 his structure was possibly…”
• “…the Jewish writers generally interpret it an outward place, but Dr. Lightfoot thinks…”

I like that the King James translators did not try to interpret Parbar, as many other translators have gone about doing.

Building the House of God

For “to me”: A Christian’s Hope

Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

I recently heard this verse referenced at a graveside, and as we are often wont to do, summarized as “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” I have no criticism of that, as we generally understand it in that context. However, the three short introductory words are very potent.

“For to me” encompasses a Christian’s hope.

“To me” demonstrates that this is not a universal truth for all people. It is a truth for Paul (to me), and for people in the same category as Paul – born again believers. Unbelievers do not live in Christ and do not gain in death.

“To me” enforces that this statement is not just an abstract notion, but concrete reality. In life Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20). In life Christ is the matter (Hebrew 12:1-2) and the goal (Titus 2:13). In death we gain relief (Revelation 21:4) and rest (Revelation 14:13). In death we gain reward (2 Timothy 4:6-8), gain union (v. 23; 2 Corinthians 5:8) and reunion (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

Seven aspects of church music

We might say that Colossians 3:16 expands the aspects of Christian singing to bring out seven things.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

1. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” The “devotional” aspect of Christian singing.
2. “teaching and …” The “educational” aspect of Christian singing. 
3. “… and admonishing” The “motivational” aspect of Christian singing.
4. “one another” The “congregational” aspect of Christian singing.
5. “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” The “biblical” aspect of Christian singing.
6. “singing with grace in your hearts” The “internal” aspect of Christian singing.
7. “singing with grace … to the Lord” The “vertical” aspect of Christian singing.

Four aspects of church music

Ephesians 5:19 speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

1. “speaking to yourselves” The “congregational” aspect of Christian singing.
2. “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” The “biblical” aspect of Christian singing.
3. “singing and making melody in your heart” The “internal” aspect of Christian singing.
4. “singing and making melody … to the Lord” The “vertical” aspect of Christian singing.

Church of the Thessalonians

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1:1)

The salutatory expression “the church…which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ” is unique to the two Thessalonian epistles. 

The church is named from the people (Thessalonians) rather than the place (Thessalonica).

“…the church of the Thessalonians (local expression) which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ (spiritual distinction)…”

Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer suggests this unique address distinguishes them from the heathen or pagans (in God the Father) and from the Jews (in the Lord Jesus Christ).

1 Thessalonians 2:14 the churches of God which in Judæa are in Christ Jesus

2 Thessalonians 1:4 so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God

God was manifest in the flesh

George Sayles Bishop on the Revision Version of 1885.

The Revision weakens and removes the Deity of Christ in many places—I will mention five: 

…

I Tim. 3:1—“Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh.” The Revision leaves out θεὸς God, and renders it “Great is the mystery of godliness, He who was manifest in the flesh,”—i. e., the manifested One was only one phase—the highest—of godliness, the precise rendering for which all the Unitarians have been contending for the last 1,800 years…Dr. Scrivener says his senses report it Theos. “I have examined it twenty times within as many years,” he declares, “and seeing (as every man must do for himself with my own eyes, I have always felt convinced that Codex ‘A’ reads Theos.” That conviction of Dr. Scrivener is my conviction and on the very same grounds—a conviction so deep that I will never yield it, nor admit as a text of my faith a Book pretending to be a Revelation from God which leaves that word out. The Holy Ghost has written it—let no man dare touch it—Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh.

“Oh, but it is only one word!” yes, but one word of Scripture of which it is said “Thou has magnified Thy Word above all Thy Name!” “Only one Word!” But that word “God.” Better the whole living church of God should perish than that that one word should perish. If any take away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part.” Let criticism pause. The principle at stake is solemn.

George Sayles Bishop, “The Principles and the Tendency of the Revision Examined,” in The Doctrines of Grace: and Kindred Themes, New York, NY: Gospel Publishing House, 1910, pp. 78-80.

Psalm 12:6-7 and Bible Preservation

Alexander Ewing, minister of the Square Chapel Congregational Church in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, used Psalm 12:6-7 as the basis for his discourse on “The Claims of the Bible to Be Received as a Divine Revelation,” which was printed in 1839.

“It is true, the scriptures have been assailed by the enemies of our faith, in every possible shape and form, and with all the subtlety and malignity of hell. But they have passed, through every fiery ordeal, uninjured, and have even gained additional brightness and strength, from the trial to which they have been subjected. The text affirms, ‘The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times.’ That is, as the precious metals, when cast into a crucible or fining pot, and subjected to the scorching flames, seven times, in succession, come forth with increasing brilliancy; so the words of the Lord, the more they have been tried, whether by friends or foes, the more their truth, their uncorruptness, and integrity have been manifested. While all the shafts of malice, have rebounded back upon those by whom they were discharged, the oracles of divine truth have remained impervious to their strokes. Nor shall infidels ever be permitted to succeed, in their desperate enterprise against the words of the Lord, for it is added, ‘Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.’ .... The care of divine providence, is remarkably displayed, in the preservation, and transmission of the sacred scriptures during so many ages, in all their integrity, and purity, to the present time. Indeed, when we consider, how the Bible has been assailed, and maligned, by its avowed enemies, and misrepresented by the infidelity and treachery of its professed friends, its preservation seems truly miraculous. But the Lord of all, who has never permitted the gates of hell to prevail against his church, has watched over with peculiar care, the sacred oracles, on which it rests ‘as the pillar and ground of the truth.’”

“Discourse III, The Claims of the Bible to Be Received as a Divine Revelation, Psalm XII. 6,7.” Discourses on Various Subjects, Designed to Illustrate the Excellency of Christianity, Alexander Ewing, London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1839, pp. 86-87, 94

The long and short of it

Shortest and Longest Verses in the King James Bible.

Shortest verses in the KJV New Testament.

• John 11:35. Jesus wept. (also the shortest verse in the entire King James Bible)
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16. Rejoice evermore. (2 words, 15 letters)
• Luke 17:32. Remember Lot’s wife. (3 words, 16 letters)

Shortest verses in the KJV Old Testament. 

• 1 Chronicles 1:25 Eber, Peleg, Reu. (3 words, 12 letters)
• Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill. (4 words, 16 letters) (Same as Deuteronomy 5:17)
• Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal. (4 words, 17 letters)

Longest verse in the KJV New Testament.

• Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (68 words.)

Longest verse in the KJV Old Testament (and whole King James Bible).

• Esther 8:9. Then were the king’s scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language. (90 words)

What? NKJV notes and the Critical Text.

When folks say that there exist some critical text readings in the New King James translation, the claim is often dismissed as the rabid ravings of kooky KJV-“Onlyists”. But wait? What if a work published by the publisher of the NKJV (Thomas Nelson) and under the hand of the executive editor of the NKJV (Arthur Farstad) agrees? Are they unhinged as well?

Here are three verses (below), investigated in The NKJV Greek-English Interlinear New Testament (Arthur L. Farstad, Zane C. Hodges, Michael Moss, Robert Picirilli, Wilbur Pickering. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994). I discussed two of the same in “Are there Critical Text preferences in the NKJV?” (which see). I believe someone with the time to do the research will turn up more of the same kind of things. If you do not have the NKJV Interlinear, you can borrow it HERE.

2 Corinthians 4:14. KJV “by” versus NKJV “with”. On page 634 it says “with” is the NU reading (NU= Nestle-Aland, United Bible Society). NKJV follows the NU reading.

Jude 1:3. KJV “the” versus NKJV “our”. On page 835 it says “our” is the NU reading. NKJV follows the NU reading.

Revelation 6:11. KJV “robes” versus NKJV “robe”. On page 854 it says the plural is the TR reading. NKJV follows the singular of the NU rather than the plural of the TR.

---

Note: The main reason for this post is to demonstrate that even friends and promoters of the New King James translation are able to acknowledge some influence arising from the Critical Text.

Even Mark Ward has admitted, “There are six places in the NT—Luke 1:35; Col 3:17; Jude 3; and now 2 Cor 13:14; 4:14; 2 John 1:7—that Kent [Brandenburg] has brought to my attention, places in which I cannot square the rendering in front of me with the generally literal approach of the NKJV translators and with Scrivener’s text at the same time.”

God is love

1 John 4:7-10

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Bless the Lord, O my soul

Psalm 103, A Psalm of David.

103:1-5.

1. Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
3. who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
4. who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
5. who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Bless – exalt, glorify, praise, lift up his name.

Bless the Lord, bless his name, it is holy and revered.

Bless him from the soul, with all that is in you

Bless him for his benefits, do not forget any of them.

He forgives our iniquities.

• Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
• We went astray; he found us. We sinned; he saved us. Jesus the Lamb slain to take away the sins of the world, substituted himself in our place, so that we may gladly say “Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

He heals our diseases.

• Exodus 15:26 …for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
• The Lord is our healer, which includes healing in the temporal physical realm. When rejoicing in “the Lord our Healer,” we often set our sights far too low – only hoping God will heal us of one disease now so we can wait for the next one to come along. One day he will remove us from all sickness, sorrow, and sighing (Revelation 21:4).

He redeems our lives from destruction.

• Psalm 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
• Not only does he buy us out of slavery, he sets us free. Not only does he deliver us from the pit, he sets our feet on a solid rock. He establishes us with life, and that more abundantly (John 10:10).

He crowns us with his mercy and kindness.

• Psalm 51:1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
• His lovingkindness and tender mercies are many, rich, and free. He does not just free us, but he crowns us (like kings) with riches right on top! According to these, he blots out our transgressions and crowns our days by turning from them and to that which is good, seating us with him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:4-6).

He satisfies our mouths with good things.

• James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
• He satisfies our mouths; he feeds us our daily bread. We open our mouths; he fills them. He will feed with the finest, even “honey out of the rock” (Psalm 81:10, 16). We can trust him, for he does not change.

…the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting…

… his kingdom ruleth over all…

Bless the Lord … O my soul.

NKJV moves in the right direction

Credit where credit is due.

I have a number of times cited the New King James Version for being less than it claims to be – when it prefers to follow the bandwagon of modern versions rather than be a “new” King James Version. On Philippians 2:6 I must give them credit for revising a modern reading which matched modern versions back to a reading that more closely matches the King James Version.

In Philippians 2:6, the Authorized (King James) Version states:

• who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

When the New King James New Testament came out in 1979, this verse read:

• who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.

Unsurprisingly, this more closely matched translations like the RV, ASV, RSV, and NASB. Apparently in 1982 when the whole Bible translation was released (at least I have found it in NKJVs that are dated 1982) the verse was corrected to read:

• who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

Two Johns and others have considered readings and interpretations such as not grasping at equality with God an innovation of Arianism and/or Greek philosophy:

“No, say they, but he means that being a little God, he seized not upon being equal to the great God, who was greater than he. Is there a great and a little God? And do ye bring in the doctrines of the Greeks upon those of the Church? With them there is a great and a little God. If it be so with you, I know not. For you will find it nowhere in the Scriptures: there you will find a great God throughout, a little one nowhere.” John Chrysostom, Homily 6, Philippians 2:5-8

“...as for the sense which some put upon the words, that he did not ‘affect’, or ‘greedily catch’ at deity; as the phrase will not admit of it, so it is not true in fact; he did affect deity, and asserted it strongly, and took every proper opportunity of declaring it, and in express terms affirmed he was the Son of God; and in terms easy to be understood declared his proper deity, and his unity and equality with the Father; required the same faith in himself as in the Father, and signified that he that saw the one, saw the other...” John Gill, Exposition of the Whole Bible

Note: 1. This was a translation matter and not a difference in underlying text. 2. Though I commend the NKJV for this change, I do not recommend the NKJV.

Quintuple Commands to the Childish Corinthians

As Paul concludes his first letter to the church at Corinth, he quickly fires off five consecutive commands, as found in verses 13-14 in chapter 16. The Corinthians were being childish (13:11; 14:18-20), carnal (3:1-4), and quarrelsome (1:10-13). He counters their chaotic inclinations with these five faithful exhortations.

1 Corinthians 16:13–14 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.

1. Watch ye.

• Luke 12:39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched...
• 1 Thessalonians 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 
• 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
• Revelation 3:3 ...If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Churches have no need for blind leaders of the blind. They need members who are not asleep but spiritually awake, who walk circumspectly & pay attention, who are ever on guard. Duty never ceases, and evil never sleeps.

2. Stand fast.

• 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
• Colossians 1:23 …be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard
• Luke 18:1 …men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
• Ephesians 6:13 ...and having done all, to stand.

Church members must be firm and fixed, stedfast and unmoveable, if they will abound in the work of the Lord. Paul does not exhort to be stubborn for the sake of stubbornness. The Corinthians are encouraged to stand firm and stedfast “in the faith” and not be moved away from it (Galatians 1:6). The faith is the truth of God’s word as revealed in the Scriptures (Jude 3).

Stand fast ←We are in a battle→ Quit you like men

3. Quit you like men.

• 1 Samuel 4:9 Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
• 1 Corinthians 14:8 For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
• 1 Timothy 1:18 ...that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
• 2 Timothy 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Quit you like men (act like men) is strong military talk, Buck up to the task; be brave. We are in a battle for the cause of God and truth. We are in a battle for the souls of men. The churches need courageous men and not cowards (John 10:12-13); mature men and not adolescents (13:11); strong men and not effeminate (6:9). The churches need men who will watch, who will stand fast, who will be strong – and act like men.

4. Be strong.

• Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
• 2 Timothy 2:1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
• Joshua 1:6, 9 Be strong and of a good courage...
• Isaiah 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not…
• 1 Corinthians 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
• Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

The churches need grown men, not childish adults; strong men, but men who find their strength in the Lord and not themselves. We work through the power that worketh in us (Philippians 2:13). Without Jesus, we can do nothing, but in him we can do all things. Let us lay aside the faux human pretense of power, and find our strength in him (2 Corinthians 12:10 ...for when I am weak, then am I strong).

↑The Corinthians were being childish (1 Corinthians 1:11-12; 3:1), and they were not acting in love.↓

5. Let all your things be done with charity.

The fifth imperative subsumes the previous four: it encompasses them all, characterizes them all, and completes them all (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

• Charity never faileth: watch ye.
• Charity suffereth long: stand fast.
• Charity ... endureth all things: quit you like men.
• Charity ... beareth all things: be strong.

Charity … rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth … Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

Keveh and Linen Yarn

Notes or comments in commentaries and study Bibles can be really bad. Readers think they are being given competent instruction, but you just never know! Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t. At times commentators apparently just write whatever is on their minds without doing the necessary research. Here is an example from the Believer’s Bible Commentary by William MacDonald (Arthur L. Farstad, editor, Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1995, p. 387), regarding the translation of 1 Kings 10:28.

“⁸ (10:26-29) Keveh (also transliterated Kue) was translated ‘linen yarn’ in KJV because they did not know in the seventeenth century that is was a place name.”

The barest of research would have refuted this statement. The King James translators were well aware that this had been considered the name of a place. They just did not agree that it was. Notice, for example, how verse 28 had been translated in the 1537 Matthew Bible:

And Salomons horses came out of Egipte from Keva: The marchauntes fett them from Keva at a pryce.

The 14th rule given to the translators even said they should check these prior Bibles. “These translations to be used when they agree better with the Text than the Bishop’s Bible: Tindoll’s, Matthew’s, Coverdale’s, Whitchurch’s, Geneva.” Keva is found in the Coverdale, Matthew, and Taverner Bibles. The LXX gives it as a place name (Θεκουέ), as does the Vulgate (Coa). The translators were aware of these resources; the fact was not something “they did not know.”

No, the King James translators were not unaware of translating מִקְוֵה (miqvê) as a place. They did not agree that in this verse it was a place. They translated it accordingly. If you don’t agree with the King James translators in 1 Kings 10:28, just say so. Don’t act like they were ignorant.

---

Notes:

The translational issue is the same in 2 Chronicles 1:16.

I acknowledge that research in old Bible editions is easier in 2025 than it was in 1995. However, if we do not know what we are talking about, we should not talk; if we do not know what we are writing, we should not write.

“Fett” in the Matthew Bible appears to be or mean the same as “fetched,” which is what is in the Coverdale Bible before it. The word is a bit hard to make out in the copy I looked at.

1 Kings 10:28.

• AKJV: And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price.
• NKJV: Also Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king’s merchants bought them in Keveh at the current price.

Straining at a gnat and not swallowing a camel

In a post in 2023, I took notice of Dan Wallace’s claim that “strain at” in Matthew 23:24 is a translation error. I addressed the usage and whether it is an error (and James Snapp, not a KJV defender, really “cleaned his (and others) clock” about the usage, in the essay Straining at a Gnat). However, in a different article, I noticed Wallace made an additional claim not included in what I addressed. This claim by Wallace is that the 1611 printing of the King James Bible originally had “strain out” rather than “strain at.” That is false.

“Another well-known error is found in Jesus’ discourse against the religious leaders of his day, recorded in Matthew 23. In v. 24 the KJV reads, ‘Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.’ The Greek verb διυλίζω means ‘to strain out.’ I believe that the KJV of 1611 actually had this wording, but inexplicably changed it later to ‘strain at.’”

To be fair, Wallace presents “the KJV of 1611 actually had [strain out], but inexplicably changed it” as what he believes rather than what he knows. Obviously he did not check and did not know, because what he believes is wrong. Checking a scan of a 1611 Bible printing makes it obvious that the original printing has “at” rather than “out.”

This may not be a very large camel in the grand scheme of things – and Snapp has already rebutted this – but I want to add it to my blog. Perhaps someone will stumble along and find this post, and learn that the urban myth perpetuated by a highly esteemed doctor is just that, an urban myth camel to be strained at and strained out of our minds. It is false. Or, as James Snapp concluded, “Those who have promoted that theory (and especially those who have presented it as a fact) should stop doing so.”

We do not allow Dallas doctors to prescribe phony pharmaceuticals. Hopefully Wallace has learned better by now, and has stopped, but his error still adorns the pages of Bible.org to dupe unsuspecting readers.

Jesus Christ our Lord in Romans 1:3

Q. Where do the words “…Jesus Christ, our Lord…” come from in Romans 1:3?

A. This is a confusing conundrum created when merely comparing verses to verses in various translations. In what are verses 1 through 7, the words ιησοῦ χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν (Jesus Christ the Lord of us, that is Jesus Christ our Lord) are found in the sentence, in what is verse 4 in the Greek once the sentence is divided into verses, but in verse 3 in some English translations and in verse 4 in other English translations.

This is an interesting question and find, and one that does not seem to have much discussion about it, either pro or con (as far as what I have been able to find). I had not noticed this before, and so had to take a careful look. “Jesus Christ our Lord” (or “our Lord Jesus Christ”) is also included in verse 3 in some translations outside of the King James line of texts, such as the CSB, CEV, ERV, NCV; so it is not just a King James Bible issue.

Observe: Verses 1-7 (in both KJV & ESV, from which I give excerpts below) are one long sentence. The words “Jesus Christ our Lord” are in the sentence in all versions – it is just placed differently in the sentence. This is best considered a translator’s decision as to how its reads best in English. Different decisions have been made by different translators. None of them delete “Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Here is the King James translation, where the words are in verse 3, and the ESV is used as a representative of the words being in verse 4.

• AKJV vs. 3-4: concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
• ESV, vs. 3-4: concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

There is a description or designation of how English and Greek differ syntactically. Much of our language is governed by word placement in the sentence (syntax), whereas in Greek it is governed more by inflection; it is much more flexible regarding word order. English is an analytic language, in which syntactic roles are assigned to words primarily by word order (the words change order and relationship to convey grammatical information). It may also be called or considered configurational. Greek is a synthetic language, in which syntactic relationship between the words is achieved or assigned via inflection (the words change form to convey grammatical information). It may also be called or considered non-configurational.

I have studied Esperanto some in the past. (I am not good at it, because I have never needed to use it.) Esperanto is a created language and is more extreme than Greek for non-configuration. It is designed so that word order has little or no input toward the meaning of the sentence – you just have to put the right endings on the words and they mean the right thing regardless of placement in the sentence.

All this to say, where to best put “Jesus Christ, our Lord” in this long sentence is a translational consideration. It is not a textual difference in the Greek. To me it reads more smoothly in the KJV, but obviously part of that is that I have been reading it that way all my life.

My conclusion is:

• that the words obviously belong somewhere in the long sentence
• that we should not think of the sentence just in terms of verses for the purpose of understanding the issue here
• that the difference is a translational choice
• that the King James placement is best

---

Note: Seeing this as one long sentence will go a long way in understanding the problem. One can see below how that in the SBL Greek NT it is one sentence.

1 Παῦλος δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, κλητὸς ἀπόστολος, ἀφωρισμένος εἰς εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ 2 ὃ προεπηγγείλατο διὰ τῶν προφητῶν αὐτοῦ ἐν γραφαῖς ἁγίαις 3 περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, τοῦ γενομένου ἐκ σπέρματος Δαυὶδ κατὰ σάρκα, 4 τοῦ ὁρισθέντος υἱοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν, Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν, 5 δι’ οὗ ἐλάβομεν χάριν καὶ ἀποστολὴν εἰς ὑπακοὴν πίστεως ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ, 6 ἐν οἷς ἐστε καὶ ὑμεῖς κλητοὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, 7 πᾶσιν τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἀγαπητοῖς θεοῦ, κλητοῖς ἁγίοις· χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

Tertullian, John 5:3-4

John 5:3b-4 ...waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

Though the above text is in the majority of Greek manuscripts, the critical text and many modern translations omit it because it is not in early manuscripts such as א. However, notice that Tertullian, who lived circa AD 155 to 220 (before א), had this text in his Bible, and addressed it in his writing on baptism.

If it seems a novelty for an angel to be present in waters, an example of what was to come to pass has forerun. An angel, by his intervention, was wont to stir the pool at Bethsaida. They who were complaining of ill-health used to watch for him; for whoever had been the first to descend into them, after his washing, ceased to complain.

Tertullian, in De Baptismo (On Baptism, chapter 5)

John 1:1 in Sinaiticus

The following is the text copied from the Codex Sinaiticus website (with a picture below), regarding John 1:1.

[I am unable to type exactly in the style of the uncial, especially the macron or line above the nomina sacra. The last two letters in the last line are the first two letters of the word in verse 2.]

ΕΝΑΡΧΗΗΝΟΛΟΓΟC 
ΚΑΙΟΛΟΓΟCΗΝ 
ΠΡΟCΤΟΝΘΝΚΑΙ 
ΘCΗΝΟΛΟΓΟCΟΥ

Which we read in modern printed texts as:

εν αρχη ην ο λογος και ο λογος ην προς τον θεον και θεος ην ο λογος

I have read and heard some claims that that the differences in John 1:1 (e.g., a god instead of God) are because of Codex Sinaiticus. I am no fan of Sinaiticus; I think it is a bad manuscript that should not be followed. However, as far as John 1:1 is concerned, Sinaiticus appears to have the same text in that verse as the Stephanus, Scrivener, Westcott-Hort, NU, SBLGNT, etc.

If someone is translating this verse differently, it is a translation issue rather than textual.

Jonah and the Whale

Q. Was Jonah swallowed by a whale or a fish?

A. Both. It is a whale (Matthew 12:40, κήτος) and a fish (Jonah 1:17, דָג). The Old Testament book says God prepared a fish to swallow Jonah and Jesus said that fish was a whale. Yet scientists say the whale is not a fish; it is a mammal, and the Bible is wrong. Who shall we believe? Believe God. We should look the scientist and skeptic in the eye and say, “God is sovereign.” God is the Sovereign of the universe and the Creator of all things. He is under no obligation to categorize fish and whales by some modern classifications or man-made distinction that some modern scientists have chosen. God is the creator of the whale. He can (and does) call it what he wants.

When puny humans can place a man inside a whale and bring him out alive after three days and three nights, maybe we will have earned some right to call him what we wish against what God says. Of course, we can’t, and won’t, and don’t! This issue might become a complicated debate for some, but let us reserve the debate over technicalities to within “the family.” There is no reason for Christians to run from this issue like a frightened schoolchild. We should and must stand for the Bible, truth against falsehood.

In modern English whale may mean (scientifically) any of various large marine mammals of the order Cetacea, or (popularly) any large sea creature or something that is impressive in size. The word comes from the Old English hwæl, Old Saxon hwal, apparently going back to the German hwal/wal, and Latin squalus (a kind of large sea fish).

• Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (KJV, Jonah 1:17)

The Old Testament Hebrew is gadowl (גָּדֹ֔ול) dag (דָּ֣ג), meaning “great fish.”

• for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (KJV, Matthew 12:40)

The Greek used in the New Testament is ketos (κητος). Divry’s Modern English-Greek and Greek-English Dictionary (1974), is just a Greek/English dictionary. It has nothing directly to do with the Bible (i.e., it is a Greek language dictionary, not a Bible dictionary). If you look up the Greek word ketos, it has “whale.” If you look up the English word whale, it has “ketos.”

Notice also that the Greek LXX of the Old Testament translates (דָּג גָּדֹול) as κήτει μεγάλῳ and (הַדָּג) as κήτους – which Lancelot Brenton translates into English as great whale and whale (1:17 in the KJV, is 2:1 in LXX).

καὶ προσέταξεν κύριος κήτει μεγάλῳ καταπιεῖν τὸν Ιωναν καὶ ἦν Ιωνας ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας

Now the Lord had commanded a great whale to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights.

As late as 1952, the new Revised Standard Version still used the word “whale.”

• For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (RSV, Matthew 12:40)

The modern pressure to be “scientific” has called forth a number of substitutes: great fish (ESV, NKJV, TLB), huge fish (CSB, LEB, NET, NIV), sea creature (ISV), sea monster (AMP, EXB, LSB, NASB, NRSV), and possibly others. I do not see these as wrong, in the sense that, in biblical terms the whale is a great or huge fish, and a sea creature. I see them as compromising, jellyfish translations (gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria), that bow to science when science should instead bow to God.

As if it matters, we notice that some people who attack the King James Bible in particular or the Bible in general claim that scientific terminology labeling whales as mammals predates the 1611 translation of the Bible. So the translators should have had their fingers in the wind, and not used the word “whale” (in their opinion). However, this assertion appears to be chronologically false. The information that I have found indicates that this system (re whales) dates to 1758 (of course, there were earlier folks developing taxonomic ideas, such as the Bauhin brothers, botanists). It was in the 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae that Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish biologist and taxonomist, classified cetaceans as mammals rather than fish. The taxonomic system of Linnaeus formed the basis of modern whale classification. That does not matter in terms of biblical truth, but the timing nevertheless seems to be a false claim that deserves debunking. Regardless, Bible translators are not beholden to modern classifications as sources for translation.

As far as a whale or fish swallowing Jonah, if we believe in a sovereign God who can do all things, and we believe that fish was “prepared by God” – that should remove all difficulties believing the story. God made a creature that, due to his preparation, was able to swallow an adult human. It was a miracle!

As far as a whale being a fish, if we believe God made all things, we allow him to call those things whatsoever he will – regardless of what anyone else decides to call them. God is the eternal sovereign Creator.

As William Jennings Bryan said to Clarence Darrow, “If the Bible said so…”

---

Note: I do not have a problem with the principle of scientific classifications. I myself have engaged in a good bit of religious taxonomy – working on how to classify Baptists within their denominational landscapes. It has a place in the field of knowledge, as long as it doesn’t overstep its bounds and start overriding what a biblical classification of a church is. I recognize it is man-made, but it can help make sense out of who we are as Baptists. So with scientific classifications of plants and animals. They are derived to help us understand the world around us. Let it do that, as long as it doesn’t overstep its bounds and start overriding what the Bible says. Search the scriptures, whether these things are so. Let God be true, but every man a liar.