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KJV False Friends

There are words in the KJV you don’t realize you’re misunderstanding, and they’re called “false friends.”

False friends are words that—not because you’re unintelligent, not because the KJV translators made mistakes, but because of language change over the centuries—you don’t know you don’t know.

This site is dedicated to listing out all the false friends known to me, Mark Ward. It’s the official list to go along with my YouTube channel and books.

 

Give a man a fish and he’ll read the KJV for a day; teach a man how to fish and he’ll understand the KJV for a lifetime.

Mark Ward’s False Friends Quick Reference (very much a work in progress; 1/29/24)

 

Word Passage Intended Meaning by KJV Translators Modern Meaning
1. “Halt” 1 Kgs. 18:21; Matt. 21:14; Gen. 32:31. “Lame” as in hobble between two opinions. “Stop” between two opinions.
2. “Apt” 2 Tim. 2:24. “Able to teach.” “Habitually predisposed to teach.”
3. “Variance” Galatians 5:20. “State or fact of disagreeing or falling out.” No moral overtones. The fact or state of variants.
4. “Emulations” Galatians 5:20. “Ambitious rivalry for power or honor.” “Imitation.”
5. “Seditions” Galatians 5:20. “Violent party strife.” “Incitement or resistance of lawful authority.”
6. “Heresies” Galatians 5:20. “Opinions or doctrine characterizing particular individuals or parties.” “Damaging doctrines” that the church has condemned.
7. “Cattle” Gen. 1:26; Ez. 34:5, 8, 10. “Collective term for live animals held as property.” “Cows.”
8. “Meat” Gen. 1:30; Num. 7:13; Matt. 6:25; John 21:5. “Food” generally. A specific type of edible food particularly “vegetable” in contrast to meat.
9. “Commend” Rom. 5:8. “To set off to advantage, with added grace, luster, etc.” “showcase”. “Praises”, “entrust”, “recommends”.
10. “Miserable” 1 Cor. 15:19. “Pitiable”-others feel bad for him or her. External distress or misery. Someone feels very bad. The feeling of misery.
11. “Convenient” Eph. 5:4. .”To or for a purpose”. “Fitting” “Suitable”, “Appropriate.”
12. “Wait On” Rom. 12:7. “To attend to a matter or duty.” “stay where one is or delay action until someone arrives or is ready, or until a particular time or event.”
13. “Remove” Pro. 22:28. “Move”, “steal”. “Taking away and disposing, or hiding.”
14. “Careful” Dan. 3:16. “Not full of care” “Not prepared with thought and attention”
15. “Spoil” Col. 2:8; Mk. 3:27. “To rob improperly”. “Ruin”, “waste”.
16. “Equall” Col. 4:1. “State of being fair to the work given.” “Spread out evenly.”
17. “Incontinent” 2 Tim. 3:3. “Lacking in self-restraint.” “Lose control of bowels.”
18. “Enlargement” Esther 4:14. “Release from bondage.” “Grow and enlarge as a people group.”
19. “Judgment” Isa. 42:4. “Establish justice” (after judging) “Set up courts or judicial rule”
20. “Honest” Rom. 12:17; 2 Cor. 8:21. “Worthy of honor.” “Honorable” or “commendable”. “Recommend truthfulness” “telling the truth”.
21. “Excess” Eph 5:18. “Extravagant violation of law, decency, or morality; outrageous conduct.” “Too much.”
22. “Overcharge” 2 Cor 2:5. “Be too severe” or “overburden”. “Owe more money for a good or service than actual value.”
23. “Communicate” Heb 13:16; Gal.6:6; Phil. 4:15; Phil. 4:14; 1 Tim. 6:18. “To have a common part or share; to partake, participate, share (with another person). Frequently with in (the thing shared; also with, (occasionally) of). “ … to express oneself in such a way that one is readily and clearly understood.”
24. “Want” Psa. 23:1. “To be lacking.” “Desire”, “request”.
25. “Prevent” 1 Thess. 4:15; Matt. 17:25. “To come, appear, or act before the expected time, or in anticipation of some event.” “Stop” or “hinder”.
26. “Let” 2 Thess. 2:7. “Prevent”, “hinder”, “restrain”. “To check or withhold oneself, to desist, refrain; to omit to do (something).” “Permit” or “allow”.
27. “Conversation” 1 Tim. 4:12; Psa. 50:23; Phil. 1:27, 3:20. Another sense archaic-Psa. 50:23. “To live, or conduct yourself”. “The action of living or having one’s being in a place or among persons.” “Manner of conducting oneself in the world or in society.” “To talk, converse, communicate.”
28. “Corn” Acts 7:12. “Fruit of the cereals.” The sense is still present in contemporary British English. Narrow sense (U.S.) “Indian corn”.
29. “Fetched a compass” Acts 28:13. “To go around or in a circuit.” “A magnetic device for knowing direction.”
30. “Fair” Acts 7:20; Ez. 31:7. “Beautiful.” “Just outcome.”
31. “Peculiar” 1 Pe. 2:9. “A person’s private property” “strange”
32. “Quick” Eph. 2:1; 2 Tim. 4:1; Heb. 4:12 “To be alive”, “make alive” “Moving quickly with speed”
33. “Experience” Rom. 5:5 “Proof by actual trial; practical demonstration. To put in experience: to fulfill in practice.” Active. “The actual observation of facts or events considered as a source of knowledge.” Passive.
34. “Moderation” Phil. 4:5; Tit. 3:2 “Moderate in harshness or intensity; mildness, clemency” “Avoidance of extreme views.” “[Later generally] moderation in conduct, opinion, etc.”
35. “Suffer” Luke 18:16, 9:41; Judges 15:1; Matt. 24:43; Gen. 31:7; Job 21:3; Deut. 8:3; [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] Pro. 19:15; Matt. 16:21 “Permit” “to allow especially by reason of indifference” “Endure pain and hardship” “To submit to or be forced to endure”
36. “Helpmeet” Gen. 2:18 “suitable; fit; proper” “a helpful companion or partner, especially one’s husband or wife.”
37. “Watchings” 2 Corinthians 6:5, 11:27; Matt. 14:25 [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] 1 Sam. 4:13; Pro. 8:34 “The state of remaining awake because one is unable to go to sleep, sleeplessness” “To be or remain awake” “A period of time when a person watches out for danger”
38. “By and By” Matt. 13:21; Luke 17:7, 21:9; Mark 6:25 “At once, immediately” “After a while, non-committal”
39. “So that” 1 Ki. 8:25; “only if”: Deut. 15:4-5; 2 Ki. 21:8; 2 Chron. 33:8. [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] Gen. 13:6, 16 “On condition that, provided that, so long as, if only” “Expressing purpose or desired result” “With the purpose/result or consequence that …”
40. “Bastard” Deut. 23:2; Heb. 12:8 “A person born of parents not married to each other” “A neutral designation … used in legal contexts …” Used as a pejorative “An unpleasant or despicable person”
41. “Bowels” Philemon 7, 12, 20; Phil. 1:8, 2:1 “The seat of tender and sympathetic emotions” “one of the divisions of the intestines”
42. “Ass” Num. 21:21-23, 25, 27-30, 32-33; Judges 1:14 Common word for “donkey” in 1611 English, however, the word for the animal didn’t enter English until the late 1700s. Used as a pejorative to mean “a stupid, stubborn, or detestable person” or pejorative to refer to a person’s “back of a hip that forms one of the fleshy parts on which a person sits”.
43. “Holy Ghost” Matt. 3:11, 28:19; John 20:22, etc. “Ghost” meant the soul or spirit as the principal of life. “an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image.” All “ghosts” are spirits, but not all spirits are “ghosts”. The word “ghosts” has undergone semantic narrowing.
44.”Moisture” Psa. 32:4; [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] Luke 8:6. “The liquid part or constituent of a body; (spec. In medieval philosophy) the moist property naturally inherent in all living plants and animals.” “Blood, life sap, bodily fluids, etc.” “Water or other liquid diffused in small quantity through air, etc.”
45. “Fray” Zec. 1:21; Deut. 28:26; Jer. 7:33 “Fear, frighten, scare away” “(of a fabric, rope, or cord) unravel or become worn at the edge, typically through constant rubbing”
46. “Study” [originally numbered 33]. 2 Tim. 2:15, perhaps 1 Thess. 4:11, Pro. 24:2 [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] Ecc. 12:12 “To strive towards, direct one’s efforts to, set one’s mind on, devote oneself to.” [The OED particularly says the 1 Thess. passage uses “study” in the following sense] “Aiming, endeavoring, to do something.” “To apply mental faculties to the acquisition of knowledge especially by reading.”
47. “Quit” 1 Cor. 16:13; 1 Sam. 4:9 “To behave or conduct oneself, esp. Satisfactorily or in a specified … one’s part” “Largely superseded by the modern word acquit” “Leave (a place, a person, etc.), usually permanently”
48. “Coasts” Ex. 10:4; Num. 13:29, 20:16, 21:13, 34:3; Joshua. 18:11; Judges 1:18; Matt. 2:16. [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] Num. 21:13; Acts 27:2 “The border, bound, or limit of a country; territory on or near a boundary or frontier, borderland. (Chiefly plural.)” “Part of the land by the sea.”
49. “Counsel” Acts 27:42, 2:23; Psa. 32:11; 1 Corinthians 4:5. Acts 4:28, maybe a slightly different meaning. [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] Ex. 18:19; Judges 20:7 “That in which deliberation results; resolution, purpose, intention; plan, design, scheme.” “A private or secret purpose, design, or opinion.” “Advice, especially [advice] given formally.” “Legal advice”
50. “Host” Luke 2:13; Acts 7:42 “An armed company or multitude of men; an army” “A great number of something”
51. “Sodden” Ex. 12:9; Job 41:31 “Boiled or seethed” “Saturated with liquid, esp. water; soaked through.”
52. “By Myself” 1 Cor. 4:4 “Against Myself” “Without Help of Others”
53. “Science” 1 Tim. 6:20; Dan. 1:4 “The state or fact of knowing; knowledge or cognizance of something; knowledge as a personal attribute.” “The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment”
54. “Mansions” John 14:2 “Each of a number of separate dwelling places or apartments in a large house, group of buildings, etc … Now usually archaic as a translation of, or in allusion to, John 14:2 …” “A large, impressive house”
55. “Flowers” Lev. 15:24, 32-33. [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] Isa. 40:7; 1 Ki. 7:20. KJ Translators were using dynamic equivalence. “The menstrual discharge … Obsolete. [After French fleurs [flower]: but this is regarded by French scholars as a corruption of flueurs [flow] …” “The seed-bearing part of a plant, consisting of reproductive organs … that are typically surrounded by a brightly colored corolla … and a green calyx. …” “the finest individuals out of a number of people or things.”
56. “Offend” Matt. 5:29, 13:21, 57, 18:6, 26:31; Rom. 14:21; Jer. 37:18; 2 Ki. 18:14; 1 Cor. 8:13. James 3:2. [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] Matt. 15:12. “To be a stumbling block, or cause spiritual or moral difficulty, to (a person); to shock morally or spiritually; to cause to sin. Obsolete.” James’s reference has a different sense: “stumble, or trip.” “To cause to feel upset, annoyed, or resentful.”
57. “Rumor” Obadiah 1:1; Jer. 49:14-15; Luke 7:16-17. [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] Isa. 37:7; 2 Ki. 19:7; Matt. 24:6; Mark 13:7 “Talk or report of a person or thing which is noted in some respect. Obsolete. “Gossip that may or may not be true.” “A currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.”
58. “Condemn” 2 Chron. 36:3 “[F]ormally also in a fine or forfeiture.” A tax. [OLT said that the classification “formerly” is used when it is expected that a reader will not encounter a sense in modern lit. but may find the sense in historical works.] “Property has fallen into a derelict state.”
59. “Entreat” 1 Thess. 2:2 “To treat, discourse.” “Asked, a request, or questioned, some proposition.”
60. “Which” Phil. 4:13; Matt. 5:10, 6:9; Gen. 13:5, 14:20 “Could be used in reference to persons. Now chiefly regional or archaic except when referring to a collective body or small child.” “Used referring to something previously mentioned when introducing a clause giving further information.” SomeTHING previously mentioned not someONE.
61. “Occupy” Luke 19:13 “To be busy or employed (in some capacity); to exercise one’s craft or function; to practice; to do business, to work. Obsolete.” “Hang around until I come.” “Reside or have one’s place of business in (a building).” “Fill or preoccupy (the mind or thoughts).”
62. “[w]e offend all”. [The current example and the next example are presented as one false friend in the video.] James 3:2. “We all stumble in many ways.” “We all go around offending everybody.” “All” seems like the direct object of “offend”. “Offend” is false friend 56.
Drink ye all of it Matthew 26:27. “Everyone of you needs to drink.” Jesus would be in contemporary English telling His disciples to drink all the liquid that has been provided.
63. “Affect” Gal. 4:17. “To be drawn to, have affection or liking for (a person); to take to, be fond of, show preference for; to fancy, like, or love. Now rare.” “Have an effect on; make a difference to.”
64. “That” 1 Chron. 6:31; Acts 1:8. “After an event then this happened.” “That” comes off as an unnecessary word.
65. “Wealth” Esther 10:3, Psa. 66:12, 1 Cor. 10:24 [Used in the same way as we presently use the word] 1 Kings 3:10 “General good.” “The condition of being happy and prosperous; well-being. Obsolete (exc. archaic).” “Monetary riches.”
66. “Peculiar” Tit. 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9-11 Deut. 14:2, 26:18; Ex. 19:5; Psa. 135:4; Ecc. 2:8 “Someone’s personal property.” “Of property, possessions, etc.: that belongs or relates to one person, place, or group, as distinct from others; that is a person’s private property. Usually modified by a possessive. Obsolete. “Strange, weird, odd.” In addition there is another modern sense which is close to the obsolete sense, but has a special rule: “belonging exclusively to …” proper to *something*, possessed by *something*, associated with *something*, etc. This sense requires “to” to follow the word “peculiar”.
67. “Road” 1 Sam. 27:10; [while the KJV translates the same Hebrew word for “road” as “fell”, it is the same Hebrew word in the following verse] Job 1:17 “Spec. The act of riding with hostile intent against a person or district; a hostile incursion by mounted men; a foray, raid. Obsolete (archaic in later use). Metaphor for “hit the road”. “Where did you go today?” or David and his men had been constructing roads up to this point and Achish was asking, “where is your road construction work going next?”  or “David is making some positive inroads with someone unnamed in the story” or “since Webster 1828 defines ‘road’ as ‘a journey’, Achish’s question to make sure David’s activity was not a threat to Achish’s position”.
68. “Followers” 1 Corinthians 4:16 “An imitator; a person who or thing which copies something. Obsolete.” “A person who accompanies another as an attendant, servant, companion, etc.”
69. “Taxed” Luke 2:1; [OED lists only Tyndale’s translation of the following verse as example sentences of the word being used with the obsolete sense] Luke 2:3, 5. Possibly a functional translation suggesting that the reason for the census was for tax purposes, but it would not be a false friend. So, “to enter in a list, to register, enroll; enter in a list or statement of property. Obsolete, rare. “Levying of taxes.”
70. “Bruise” Gen. 3:15; Isa. 53:5, 28:28, 42:3; Ez. 23:3; Jer. 30:12; Nah. 3:19; 2 Kgs. 18:21; Matt. 12:20; Luke 4:18; Rom. 16:20; [Used in the same way as we presently use the word:] Lev. 22:24; Isa. 1:6. “Originally: to injure, batter, or crush ( a person, animal, body part, etc.) with a heavy weight or blow. Now usually: specifically to injure by a blow which discolours the skin but does not lacerate it or break any bones; to cause to develop bruising.” “To break, to smash; to destroy or damage by breaking or smashing. … Obsolete.” [The following sense listed by the OED explains the sense of the word in Ez. 23:3] “To apply pressure to; to push, press, squeeze.” Bruises are generally curable, and go away after some time has passed unless the person dies. “An injury appearing as an area of discolored skin on the body, caused by a blow or impact rupturing underlying blood vessels …” “A mark indicating an area of damage on a fruit, vegetable, or plant.”
“Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press” Luke 8:19 “… could not come at him …” the phrase meant “… could not come [near] him …” “… for the press” meant “ …[because of] the press” “Then his mother and his brethren came to him ….” In modern English putting the verb (“came”) before the subject is rare, and not required by the Greek underlying the passage to get the same point. “… could not come at him …” is a term for aggressive movement followed by a punch or tackle. “…for the press” 
“And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.” Luke 8:20 “And it was told him …” meant “[He] was [informed] …” “… by certain …” would become “… announced to him …” “… which said …” used to be a relative pronoun that could be used for things or people. “… by certain …” would be “… [and someone told him] …” “… which said …” whiches do not say anything, and we would use “who”.
71. “Brethren” Luke 8:19-20 [not only the word but also word order]. Biological brothers. -en ending is a plural “Fellow Christians or members of a male religious order.”
72. “Press” Luke 8:19-20 [not only the word but also word order]. “crowd” “reporters”
73. “Passengers” Pro. 9:13-16a; Ez. 39:11, 13-15 KJ Translators were using dynamic equivalence. “A person who passes by or through a place; a traveller, esp. A traveller on foot. Also figurative. Chiefly Scottish in later use. Obsolete.” “Anyone who rides in a vehicle without driving the vehicle.”
74. “Constantly” Titus 3:8; Acts 12:15 “With assurance or certitude; confidently; firmly; assuredly. Obsolete.” “Doing something repeatedly.” “Emphatic, resolute.” “Continuously over a period of time; always …” 
75. “You” Luke 22:31; Josh. 2:12; Matt. 5:12; Ex. 18:10; Phil. 2:5, 12-13; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; James 4:7. The English of the KJV had specific forms for singular (thee, thy, thine) and plural (ye, you, your). While this is more accurate than contemporary English, the accuracy is only meaningful if readers remember and consistently apply the 17th century English rule to the KJV. If modern English readers do not treat the KJV as a 17th century translation, but as a contemporary English translation the modern reader will misunderstand the KJV. “You” in contemporary English can either refer to one person or two or more people. However, even though contemporary English does not have an efficient way to indicate singular or plural “you” as the KJV English had, nevertheless we are not unable to communicate the same meaning. Some translations (ESV, NET, etc.) choose to include a footnote. Others (NIV, NLT, etc.) choose to make the plural clear in the translation itself. There are a few translations (CSB, NKJV) which choose not to communicate the difference at all in either the text or a footnote.
76. “Lewd” Acts 17:5, 18:14 [Same Greek word is used in the following texts, but translated differently in the KJV:] Matt. 16:4 “wicked”, 5:39 “evil”. [Used in the same way as we presently use the word:] Ezek. 23:21; Hos. 2:10 “Of a person, action, etc.; bad, wicked, unprincipled; good-for-nothing, worthless. Obsolete (archaic in later use).” “Sexually unchaste or licentious.” “Crewd and offensive in a sexual way.”
77. “Outlandish” Neh. 13:26 “Of or belonging to a foreign country; foreign, alien; not native or indigenous. Now archaic.” Ward thinks the sense should be labeled Obsolete. “Looking or sounding bizarre or unfamiliar.”
78. “… that oppose themselves …” 2 Tim. 2:25; Acts 18:6; Job 31:21. “That” means “who”. “That” serves as a relative pronoun.

 

“Transitive (reflexive). To act or set oneself in opposition, antagonism, or resistance to or †against.”

 

Opposition to Timothy, to sound doctrine, “to the truth”, but not opposition to themselves.

 “To place over against something so as to provide resistance, counterbalance, or contrast.”

 

The passage in the KJV is misunderstood to mean that Paul was writing that Timothy is to pass on to his faithful students that they should instruct people who act in ways contrary to their own best interest.
79. “In” Rev. 13:16 ““In” – on prep. Now regional and rare.” “Preposition. Expressing the situation of something that is or appears to be enclosed or surrounded by something else …”
80. “Of purpose” Ruth 2:16 “… our Savior sat of purpose, that is voluntarily; or … exemplarily.” Older form of “on purpose”. “… indicating the material or substance constituting something …”
81. “Rage” Psalm 2:1
82. “Imagine” Psalm 2:1
83. “People” Psalm 2:1
84. “Landmark”
##. “Discover” Hos. 2:10 “Uncover.”
##. “Desired” Luke 22:31 “Requested”. “Wanted.”
The following two false friends are noted in videos about why TROs reject the NKJV, but as of yet are not noted in the False Friends series of videos. Mark only shares one new False Friend in each video and the following words are given in the order he shared them.
“Experience” Rom. 5:5 “Proof by actual trial; practical demonstration. To put in experience: to fulfill in practice.” Active. “The actual observation of facts or events considered as a source of knowledge.” Passive.
“Imaginations” 2 Corinthians 10:5 “Formerly also: the inner operations of the mind in general, thinking; thought, opinion. Obsolete.” “The mind when considered as engaged in imagining; a person’s mind, or a part of it, represented as the place where images, ideas, and thoughts are produced and stored,or in which they are contained.”
The following are words or rules that were listed in Chapter 3 of Ward’s book Authorized: The Use & Misuse of the King James Bible, but have not yet had a video made of them. I will try to preserve Ward’s numbering
2. Punctuation conventions. Isaiah 52:14-15 Punctuation marks were about pauses that a reader might make in their reading. The use of colons and semicolons in the present text was not intended to show links between the first clause of verse 14 and the continuation of that clause into verse 15. Punctuation rules in English tend to focus less on public reading and more on the grammatical logic of the text. Em dashes and hanging indents make it clear to us that the first clause of verse 14 [“As many were astonied at thee”] and the beginning clause of verse 15 [“so shall he sprinkle many nations”] are connected.
11. “Fell on his neck” Luke 15:20 “Throw one’s arms around another in a hug.” “Fall down and hit the neck against the ground and then kiss the son while remaining on the ground.”
12. “Issues” Proverbs 4:23 Sense I. 1b [of OED]: “With reference to an immaterial thing, such as an emotion, or to coming out of a particular state or condition. Now rare.” “Difficulties of life.”
13. “Staggered” Rom. 4:20. Sense I. 2a [of OED]: “To begin to doubt or waver in an argument, opinion, or purpose; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate or waver at. Now rare.” “Astonished or deeply shocked.”
14. “Heady” 2 Timothy 3:4 Sense 2 [of OED]: “Impetuous, precipitate; willful, headstrong, unruly; capricious. In early use also: excessively or perversely keen to do, or enthusiastic about, something (with upon, or to and infinitive).” “Having a strong or exhilarating effect.”
17. “Pitiful” 1 Peter 3:8 “Demonstrate pity and compassion.” “Be pathetic and weak.”
18. “Swellings” 2 Corinthians 12:20 Sense 5 [of OED]: “Inflation by pride, vanity, etc.; proud or arrogant behaviour or talk, swagger. Obsolete or archaic.” “Areas of the body that are enlarged due to physical injury.”
19. “Necessities” 2 Corinthians 12:10 Sense 10 [of OED]: “A specific situation of hardship or difficulty; a pressing need or want. Frequently in plural. Now rare.” “An indispensable thing.”
21. “Approving” 2 Corinthians 6:4 “Demonstrating the validity of a matter or thing.” “A sense of approbation toward oneself, liking what one sees oneself as doing.”
25. “Creature” Rom. 8:19-20 Sense 1b [of OED]: “The created universe; creation. Obsolete.” OED references Rom. 8:19 as an example of the sense. “An animal, as distinct from a human being.”
The following word Mark thought could be a False Friend, but thought there were enough uncertainties to not add the word to the official list. The example is given in the video titled “Is Strong’s Concordance Part of a Conspiracy to Undermine the KJV?”
“Corrupt” 2 Cor. 2:17 [Mark believes this word to be used in the following sense even though the OED argues for the word to be used in another obsolete sense] “[t]o adulterate. Obsolete.” [The OED argues, however, that the word is actually used in the following sense] “[t]o pervert the text, or sense of a law, etc., by altering it for evil ends. Obsolete.” “Cause to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.” “change or debase by making errors or unintentional alterations.”

Mark Ward’s List of Errors in the KJV Quick Reference

 

Word Passage Intended Meaning by KJV Translators Why Is This Considered an Error?
“Tabret” Job 17:6. “Tabret” is an old word for tambourine The word “tabret” is translating a word that appears only once in a group of texts (hapax legomenon). Job’s saying might be contrasting his current situation in society with his previous situation. A synthetic or constructive parallelism. A wider study of cognate languages to Hebrew (than were known by 1611) reveals that Job was probably talking about people spitting in the face at him. An antithetical parallelism.