Page 101 - Yahwehs Book

“congregation.” The Greek word “baptizo” was not to be translated at all, for the word means “to
fully submerge, or immerse” and the Anglican church practiced sprinkling. The word was
transliterated instead of being translated. That is to say, it was carried over in its essentially Greek
form rather than its proper meaning being given in English.

All of these rules put restrictions on the translators, hindering them from producing a Bible version
that was integrally faithful to the existing Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. One of the more offensive
examples of translation bias in the King James Bible is found in the following verse from the book
of Acts.

Acts 12:4
And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of
soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
KJV

The Greek word being translated here is “Pascha,” which is properly translated as “Passover.” This
Greek word occurs 29 times in the New Testament, and in 28 of its occurrences the KJV translators
rendered it as “Passover.” There was no justifiable reason to translate the word “Pascha” as “Easter”
here. Nevertheless, the Anglican Church held Easter as its highest holy day of the year, and it seemed
expedient to have this holiday mentioned somewhere in the Bible, even if the translators had to insert
the word where it did not belong. I do not know of another Bible version that has rendered the Greek
word “Pascha” as “Easter.” Even the New King James Bible has corrected this verse to read
“Passover.”

I could cite a great many more examples of translation bias, for there is not an English Bible version
in existence that does not contain examples of this type of error. I do not suspect any malice, or evil
intent, where most of this type of bias is found. It is the natural consequence of men translating
according to their understanding and beliefs. Some translators have given a faithful rendering of a
word into English even when they thought it was wrong or did not understand why a particular word
was used, but the natural impulse of the human heart is to be faithful to what one believes.

It is needful for Christians to apply themselves to the study of the Scriptures, testing everything
carefully. The prudent disciple of Christ will recognize the corrupting influence of man and apply
themselves to dividing between that which is true and that which is false.