King James Version – Patriarchal Text

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE ORTHODOX NEW TESTAMENT (KJV-PT)

This is a project I have been working on for a while and, although it is still in what I would consider rough draft form I thought I would put it online for the edification of anyone who wants to benefit from it as well as for proofreading in case I have made any glaring mistakes.

This New Testament is the King James Version which I have revised to reflect the Patriarchal Text. I am calling it a KJV-PT. Wherever I changed the text there is a footnote showing the original KJV reading. The Patriarchal Text and the Textus Receptus upon which the King James is based are pretty close most of the time but there are some significant differences (especially in the Apocalypse).

I have also changed the wording in the following situations:

• Hell: wherever this English word was used I switched to the more precise Greek word since “hell” is always a place of eternal damnation to us but it is used to translate indiscriminately the Gk. terms “gehenna” (which IS what we mean by “hell”) and “hades” (which is simply the place of all the departed- as in the story of the Rich man and Lazarus). It is interesting to see how both these words are used in the Sermon on the Mount.
• Wherever the word “Passover” or “Easter” appeared I have replaced it with “Pascha”
• “Elders”, whenever this refers to Christian clergy I have replaced it with “presbyter” and whenever used of Jewish clergy I have made a note of it.
• I have either made footnotes or inserted in italics a clarifying word whenever Gk. terms like “Hierourgeo” or “Leitourgeo” are used (see especially Hebrews for this).
• Whenever the verb form of “paradosis” was used when speaking of the deposit of faith I have made a note such as at Jude 3.
• Whenever the word “nous” is used I have footnoted it.
• Made a note whenever appropriate for “sunergeo” (synergy) and also for Chrism (“anointed”) and “eikon” (icon).
• Replaced the word “propitiation” the three times it is used with “expiation” to reflect a more Orthodox understanding of those passages.

I am proofreading this New Testament myself now to correct the King James to conform with the Patriarchal Text even more closely by paying particular attention to definite articles and other parts of speech. One significant example of this is in Matthew 1:20 where the KJV has “the angel of the Lord” appearing to Joseph in a dream. In Greek there is no definite article so it should read “an angel of the Lord” (“THE angel of the Lord” most often refers to the pre-Incarnate Christ as opposed to one of the created angels). I am also adding footnotes for instances where the Majority and Critical textforms differ from the Patriarchal Text.

I would appreciate everyone’s feedback on this New Testament project as I would like to self-publish it eventually, perhaps with a Psalter as well.

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