Jake
Puritan Board Senior
One thing that has puzzled me as someone who did not grow up on the KJV but uses it now are idioms which appear to be more theological in meaning than the text that they translate. Here are some examples that appear in several places in the KJV (each time the first quote is from the KJV)
"God forbid" -- seems to imply an active use of God's name in the passage where it is not in Greek or Hebrew
-Genesis 44:17: "And he said, God forbid that I should do so" ("Far be it" in NASB)
-Romans 7:13: "Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid." ("May it never be!" in NASB)
"God save the king!" -- also it does not appear that "God" appears in Hebrew for this phrase
-II Samuel 16:16: "And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, was come unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the king, God save the king." ("Long live the king! Long live the king!" in NASB)
-This only occurs in the Old Testament, but it is frequent there
"gave up the ghost" -- This is an interesting one, because it is used in some places where pneuma or ruach are present, but in some cases it seems to use a more general word for death that doesn't mention the spirit. Example:
-Lamentations 1:19: "my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city" ("perished" in NASB)
My questions:
"God forbid" -- seems to imply an active use of God's name in the passage where it is not in Greek or Hebrew
-Genesis 44:17: "And he said, God forbid that I should do so" ("Far be it" in NASB)
-Romans 7:13: "Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid." ("May it never be!" in NASB)
"God save the king!" -- also it does not appear that "God" appears in Hebrew for this phrase
-II Samuel 16:16: "And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, was come unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the king, God save the king." ("Long live the king! Long live the king!" in NASB)
-This only occurs in the Old Testament, but it is frequent there
"gave up the ghost" -- This is an interesting one, because it is used in some places where pneuma or ruach are present, but in some cases it seems to use a more general word for death that doesn't mention the spirit. Example:
-Lamentations 1:19: "my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city" ("perished" in NASB)
My questions:
- Is my instinct right that the KJV is adding theological language where it doesn't exist in the passage?
- Is this an appropriate use of thought-for-thought translation, it is simply not idioms we use today?
- Don't these phrases risk making it seem like the Bible is teaching more than it is in these passages?