Acts 7:20

From Textus Receptus

Revision as of 06:51, 1 March 2011

Acts 7:20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:

Textus Receptus

• 1550 ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ ἐγεννήθη Μωσῆς, καὶ ἦν ἀστεῖος τῷ θεῷ· ὃς ἀνετράφη μῆνας τρεῖς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ πατρός αὐτοῦ

• 1598 ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ ἐγεννήθη Μωσῆς, καὶ ἦν ἀστεῖος τῷ θεῷ· ὃς ἀνετράφη μῆνας τρεῖς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ πατρός αὐτοῦ

English Versions

• 1395 In the same tyme Moyses was borun, and he was louyd of God; and he was norischid thre monethis in the hous of his fadir. (Wycliffe)

• 1526 The same tyme was Moses borne and was a proper childe in ye sight of God which was norisshed vp in his fathers housse thre monethes. (Tyndale)

• 1535 At the same tyme was Moses borne, and was a proper childe before God, and was norished thre monethes in his fathers house. (Coverdale)

• 1568 The same tyme was Moyses borne, and was acceptable vnto God, and norished vp in his fathers house three monethes. (Bishops')

• 1587 The same time was Moses borne, and was acceptable vnto God, which was nourished vp in his fathers house three moneths. (Geneva)

Some accuse the King James Version of mistranslation here. The KJV, ASV, etc. are not missing "God." It translates "theo" as "exceeding." This is a Hebraic expression. The Hebrew word for "God" is "Elohim," which has the root "El," which means "might" or "power." Even the YLT translates "El" as... "might" in Nehemiah 5:5. In English the word "God" just means "God," but in Hebrew "El" is a descriptive title. "Elohim," the Hebrew word for "God" is actually a title meaning "most powerful" (the Hebraic plural -im ending connotes magnitude rather than plurality). New Testament writers were influenced by Semitic style and idioms. Luke was no exception. Hebrews who read the Greek "theos" would have been had in mind the Hebrew connotation of the word, which means "power." "Beautiful to the El" would have carried the meaning of "powerfully beautiful" or "exceeding beautiful."

KJV Today

"Exceeding fair" or "Beautiful in God's sight" in Acts 7:20? The KJV does not say "God" in Acts 7:20 because θεω in the context is to be understood as a Hebraism. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionary says concerning "θεος":

Of uncertain affinity; a deity, especially (with G3588) the supreme Divinity; figuratively a magistrate; by Hebraism very: - X exceeding, God, god [-ly, -ward].

For example, the Hebrew word for God, "אלהים" is translated "exceeding(ly)" in Jonah 3:3 in many translations (e.g. KJV, NASB, ESV, NRSV, NKJV). The context in Jonah 3:3 is clear that Ninevah was an "exceedingly" large city ("of three day's journey"), not a city of God (the city was steeped in sin) or a city considered large by God (all man-made cities are minuscule in God's sight). The Septuagint, carrying Hebraisms over into Greek, translates this portion in Jonah 3:3 as "μεγαλη τω θεω" (Lit. "large to God"), which idiomatically means "exceedingly great/large." Likewise Luke, being familiar with Hebraisms, used a Hebraic expression in Acts 7:20 even though he was writing in Greek. Just as "τω θεω" in the Septuagint Greek text of Jonah 3:3 means "exceeding," "τω θεω" in the Hebraic Koine Greek text of Acts 7:20 also means "exceeding."

Will Kinney

Acts 7:20-- "In which time Moses was born, and was EXCEEDING FAIR, and nourished up in his father's house three months."

I am continually amazed at the barrage of silly arguments raised against the authority and accuracy of the King James Bible. As for those who raise objections to the text of the King James Bible, I have yet to find one of them who actually has any Bible version they defend as being the pure, preserved, infallible words of God. Instead, "every man doeth that which is right in his own eyes" and they become their own final authority with a mystical bible that exists only in their own minds.

Such an example of ignorantly trying to "correct" the KJB is found in Acts 7:20. Years ago I was invited to debate the Bible Version issue on the radio. I wish I knew then what I know now, but in any event, one young man called in to say that the King James Bible was wrong when it said Moses was EXCEEDING fair in Acts 7:20. He said it should read as do the NKJV, NASB: "At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing TO GOD, and he was brought up in his father's house for three months." - (the NKJV), or "was lovely in the sight OF GOD" - (NASB).

Other versions that read like the NKJV, and NASB are Tyndale, the Geneva Bible, the RSV, NRSV, ESV, ISV, Young's, and the Holman Christian Standard.

However there are also many bible translations that read like the King James Bible with "was exceeding fair". Among these are the Revised Version 1881, the American Standard Version 1901, Darby, New American Bible 1970, the Bible in Basic English 1960, Webster's 1833 translation, the KJV 21st Century version 1994, Third Millenium Bible 1998, John Wesley’s translation 1755, Mace’s New Testament 1729, Goodspeed 1943, Weymouth 1913, Rotherham's Emphasized bible 1902, the 20th Century New Testament, the Comtemporary English Version 1991, the Hebrew Names Bible, the World English Bible,The Jerusalem Bible 1968, St. Joseph New American Bible 1970, the New Jerusalem bible 1985, Today's English Version 1992, the New English Bible 1970, the New Century Version of 1988, God’s Word translation 1995, Worldwide English N.T., Easy to Read Version 2001, Portugese Ferreira de Almeda, Spanish Biblia en Lenguaje Sencillo 2000, Italian La Parola e Vita 1997, the French Martin 1744, the Updated Bible Version 2004 and The Message of 2003.

The NIV and the TNIV are a bit unusual in that they both say Moses "was no ordinary child", but like the KJB, they do not contain the words "of God" in their translation.

There is a simple and thoroughly biblical explanation as to why the KJB and many others translated this phrase as "exceeding fair" instead of "lovely to God". The Greek reads the same here in all texts (kai hn asteios tw thew) so it is not a textual but rather a translational issue.

Some of the meanings of the word "God" or Elohim in Hebrew and God or Theos in Greek are "mighty, very great, exceeding, or judges". ALL bible versions at times translate Elohim as "great, mighty, or exceeding". The NIV, for example, shows the word Elohim as translated in the following manner: "God, angels, godly, idols, majestic, sacred, MIGHTY, GREAT, and VERY." The NASB also lists "God, mighty, great, judges, and rulers."

Notice how the post-Christian Greek Septuagint version renders these verses from the Old Testament, and how they employ the word "God, or Theos".

Jonah 3:3 "Now Nineveh was and EXCEEDING great city of three days' journey" - h de nineuh hn polis megalh tw thew.

Genesis 23:6 "Hear us, my lord: thou art a MIGHTY prince among us" - basileus para theou ei su en hmin

Genesis 30:8 "And Rachel said, With GREAT wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed." - kai eipen rachl sunelabeto moi o theos

Exodus 9:28 "Intreat the LORD (for it is enough) that there be no more MIGHTY thunderings and hail" -fwnas theou kai calazan

1 Samuel 14:15 "and the earth quaked: so it was a very GREAT trembling"- egenhqh ekstasis para kuriou

The King James Bible is NOT incorrect in Acts 7:20 by saying Moses was "exceeding fair". In fact, it makes more sense and is consistent with what we are told in Exodus 2:2. "And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months." That he was a goodly child simply means that Moses was a beautiful baby, and that is exactly what we are told again in Acts 7:20. To say, as the NKJV and NASB do, that this little baby boy of only a few weeks old was "well pleasing to God" when all he could do was cry, wiggle, eat and poop his diapers is to attribute a spiritual life to him that babies simply do not have.

External Links

• Acts 7:20 Article by Will Kinney