Two of the reasons I love the KJV are: it tends to be a literal translation and it makes it easy to distinguish between you (singular) and you (plural). There are times when the King James seems to depart from the literal sense of the underlying Hebrew or Greek. Sometimes that is for readability. Other times, the reason is not clear. In six instances in Deuteronomy, the KJV seems to errantly use a plural pronoun to represent a word that is grammatically singular in Hebrew. The first instance is Deuteronomy 6:15.
Deuteronomy 6:15 (For the LORD thy God [is] a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
The corresponding Hebrew is this:
(Deuteronomy 6:15) כִּי אֵל קַנָּא יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּקִרְבֶּךָ פֶּן־יֶחֱרֶה אַף־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בָּךְ וְהִשְׁמִידְךָ מֵעַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה׃ ס
The key word is "בְּקִרְבֶּךָ" (Bekirbecha or Bəqirbek̲ā), which the King James translates as "among you". The same Hebrew word, with the identical inflection, is found in a total of 19 verses in the Hebrew Scriptures (18 other places) using the Westminster Leningrad Codex text as the Hebrew text.
Internal Consistency
As mentioned above, in six places in Deuteronomy, the word is translated with a plural ("among you") in the KJV, with the the remaining instances all being translated with a singular.
- Exo 33:3 "in the midst of thee"
- Exo 33:5 "into the midst of thee"
- Deu 6:15 "among you" (apparent error)
- Deu 7:21 "among you" (apparent error)
- Deu 13:1 "among you" (apparent error)
- Deu 16:11 "among you" (apparent error)
- Deu 17:2 "among you" (apparent error)
- Deu 23:16 "among you" (apparent error)
- Deu 28:43 "within thee"
- Jos 7:13 "in the midst of thee"
- Isa 12:6 "in the midst of thee"
- Jer 4:14 "within thee"
- Hos 11:9 "in the midst of thee"
- Amo 5:17 "through thee"
- Mic 6:14 "in the midst of thee"
- Nah 3:13 "in the midst of thee"
- Zep 3:12 "in the midst of thee"
- Zep 3:15 "in the midst of thee"
- Zep 3:17 "in the midst of thee"
Historical Basis
What is the source of this apparent error? One option is that this is the propagation of an error from the Tyndale translation, or from one of the other pre-KJV revisions of that Tyndale translation. In this case, all the apparent errors arise in a book that Tyndale translated.
Tyndale
Tyndale translated the Pentateuch and Jonah. He consistently translated this word as a plural:
- Exo 33:3 "among you" (different from KJV)
- Exo 33:5 "apon you" (i.e., upon you) (different from KJV)
- Deu 6:15 "among you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 7:21 "amog you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 13:1 "amonge you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 16:11 "amonge you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 17:2 "amonge you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 23:16 "amonge you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 28:43 "amonge you" (different from KJV)
Bishops
- Exo 33:3 "amongest you" (different from KJV, essentially Tyndale)
- Exo 33:5 "vpon you" (different from KJV, essentially Tyndale)
- Deu 6:15 "among you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 7:21 "among you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 13:1 "among you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 16:11 "among you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 17:2 "among you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 23:16 "among you" (same as KJV)
- Deu 28:43 "among you" (different from KJV, same as Tyndale)
- Jos 7:13 "among you" (different from KJV)
- Isa 12:6 "in the midst of thee" (same as KJV)
- Jer 4:14 "with thee" (revised to "Within" in KJV)
- Hos 11:9 "in the middest of thee" (Same as KJV)
- Amo 5:17 "through thee" (same as KJV)
- Mic 6:14 "in the middes of thee" (same as KJV)
- Nah 3:13 "in the middest of thee" (same as KJV)
- Zep 3:12 "in thee" (expanded to "in the midst of thee" in KJV)
- Zep 3:15 "with thee" (revised to "in the midst of thee" in KJV)
- Zep 3:17 "in the mids of thee" (same as KJV)
King James Revision Committee
| Citation | KJV (post-Blaney) | Websters 1833 | YLT 1862 | Darby 1890 | ASV 1901 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exodus 33:3 | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee | in thy midst | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee |
| Exodus 33:5 | into the midst of thee | into the midst of thee | into thy midst | into the midst of thee | into the midst of thee |
| Deuteronomy 6:15 | among you | among you | in thy midst | in thy midst | in the midst of thee |
| Deuteronomy 7:21 | among you | among you | in thy midst | in thy midst | in the midst of thee |
| Deuteronomy 13:1 | among you | among you | in your midst | among you | in the midst of thee |
| Deuteronomy 16:11 | among you | among you | in thy midst | in thy midst | in the midst of thee |
| Deuteronomy 17:2 | among you | among you | in thy midst | in thy midst | in the midst of thee |
| Deuteronomy 23:16 | among you | among you | in thy midst | in thy midst | in the midst of thee |
| Deuteronomy 28:43 | within thee | within thee | in thy midst | in thy midst | in the midst of thee |
| Joshua 7:13 | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee | in thy midst | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee |
| Isaiah 12:6 | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee | in thy midst | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee |
| Jeremiah 4:14 | within thee | within thee | in thy heart... of thy strength | within thee | within thee |
| Hosea 11:9 | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee | In thy midst | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee |
| Amos 5:17 | through thee | through thee | into thy midst | through the midst of thee | through the midst of thee |
| Micah 6:14 | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee | in thy midst | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee |
| Nahum 3:13 | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee | in thy midst | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee |
| Zephaniah 3:12 | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee | in thy midst | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee |
| Zephaniah 3:15 | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee | in thy midst | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee |
| Zephaniah 3:17 | in the midst of thee | in the midst of thee | in thy midst | in thy midst | in the midst of thee |
Conclusion
It seems that the ASV is simply an improvement to the KJV in these six places in Deuteronomy, by providing a more literal rendering of the underlying Hebrew word, which is singular. Can Tyndale's original translation work be defended on a formal equivalence grounds? Of course.
In other words, we don't deny that the overall sense of the text is conveyed by the King James Version, even though the translation is not strictly literal here. It seems unlikely that the sense will be misunderstood by the reader who knows that "thee/thou/thy/thine" are singular and "ye/you/your/yours" are plural. So, I am not suggesting that this minor translational defect has created any problems.
On the other hand, the King James revision committee revised four other places in the Bishops' Bible where a plural was used for a singular when translating this word, and it would have been more consistent for them to have revised in these places as well. We have no indication at all from the revisers as to why they did not revise in these places. They may simply not have noticed the issue.
This is not an error. It is a common thing for God to address the plural "you" along with the singular "thee" or "thou" directed towards each individual within the "you" group of all the Israelites.
As Dr. Peter Van Kleeck explains - “It is singular—“you” is Israel as a unified whole....It is very common for God to go back and forth between the “you” plural and the “thee” or “thou” singular even in the same verse.
If Dr. van Kleeck (Kinney does not specify whether he means Sr. or Jr.) said that, he's speaking loosely at best. The word, "you," in Tyndale's English is not grammatically singular. Moreover, taking Deuteronomy 6:15 as an example, in the same verse "thee" is used of Israel as a unified whole:
Deuteronomy 6:15 (For the LORD thy God [is] a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
God did not give Moses the King James, he gave Moses the Hebrew. In the Hebrew, in this verse, God does not "go back and forth" as Kinney describes it: God consistently uses the singular.
I have suggested before and will increasingly suggest that we need to improve the King James Version. This is not a major error, or one that seems likely to me to be of any doctrinal significance. Nevertheless, it is a less literal translation of the Hebrew text.
Comparison to Ancient Versions
Ancient versions are not binding. Nevertheless, we are confident that the King James translators were aware of the Septuagint and Vulgate versions and that they at least considered them in some way in their translation process. It is trickier to confirm their handling of the word, because we are not always sure whether they had precisely verbatim the same underlying Hebrew text and because we are not sure that they are always woodenly literal in their translation style. The Vulgate and Septuagint texts handle this word thus:
- Exo 33:3 "in the midst of thee" | tecum | μετὰ σοῦ
- Exo 33:5 "into the midst of thee" | in medio tui | ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς
- Deu 6:15 "among you" | in medio tui | ἐν σοί
- Deu 7:21 "among you" | in medio tui | ἐν σοί
- Deu 13:1 "among you" | in medio tui | [13:2] ἐν σοὶ
- Deu 16:11 "among you" | vobiscum | ἐν ὑμῖν
- Deu 17:2 "among you" | *phrase omitted* | *phrase omitted*
- Deu 23:16 "among you" | tecum | [23:17] μετὰ σοῦ
- Deu 28:43 "within thee" | tecum | ἐν σοί
- Jos 7:13 "in the midst of thee" | in medio tui | ἐν ὑμῖν
- Isa 12:6 "in the midst of thee" | in medio tui | ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς
- Jer 4:14 "within thee" | in te | ἐν σοὶ
- Hos 11:9 "in the midst of thee" | in medio tui | ἐν σοὶ
- Amo 5:17 "through thee" | in medio tui | διὰ μέσου σου
- Mic 6:14 "in the midst of thee" | in medio tui | ἐν σοὶ
- Nah 3:13 "in the midst of thee" | in medio tui | ἐν σοί
- Zep 3:12 "in the midst of thee" | in medio tui | ἐν σοὶ
- Zep 3:15 "in the midst of thee" | in medio tui | ἐν μέσῳ σου
- Zep 3:17 "in the midst of thee" | in medio tui | ἐν σοί
As you can see, in the vast majority of the cases, both the Vulgate and the Septuagint translate using a singular. For example, among all the verse, the only time that the Vulgate uses a plural is Deuteronomy 16:11. The Septuagint also uses a plural in Deuteronomy 16:11 as well as using a plural in Exodus 33:5 and Joshua 7:13. Interestingly, the Septuagint seems to change to third person in Isaiah 12:6. In Deuteronomy 17:2, there seems to be either a shorter base text or a translation that combines two phrases in Hebrew into one.
One word of caution about the Vulgate and Septuagint in the list of above. I have completed this section in a hurry - please verify before re-posting.
Based on this analysis, only one of the six places defensible on the basis of ancient translations would be Deuteronomy 16:11. However, if one defends on that basis, the other five places still need improvement.
N.B. Thanks to Mike Tisdell for bringing one of these verses to my attention, leading to the article.
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