____________________________________________
by
Henry Morris, Ph.D.
"And
thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy
mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do." (Exodus
4:15)
These
words of God, spoken to Moses concerning the mission he and his brother Aaron
were to undertake at Pharaoh's palace, are one of numerous examples in
Scripture where the King James translation uses several different forms of the
second-person pronoun. In this one verse, we see the words "thou,"
"thy," "you," and "ye," all fulfilling this
function.
Most modern translations would translate this sentence: "You
shall speak to him . . . and I will be with your mouth . . . and will teach you
what you shall do." Why would the King James translators use four
different forms of the pronoun when only "you" and "your"
are used in modern versions?
The
fact is that the Elizabethan-age English was able to make much finer
distinctions than modern English. That is, "thou," "thee,"
"thy," and "thine" were used for the second person
singular, where as "ye," "you," "your," and
"yours" were the corresponding words for the plural. Different words
also were used for subject, object, and possessive modifier, as is still true
for first and third-person pronouns.
In
our text, God was telling Moses that he (Moses) was to speak to Aaron, and that
He (God) would then teach both of them, not just Moses, what they were to do.
This distinction is clear in the King James English, but not in modern English.
This is one of numerous examples where such fine points in the King James
language are lost in modern translations. In the Lord's Prayer, for example,
"yours is the kingdom" could suggest that many will possess the kingdom,
where "thine is the kingdom" clearly recognizes one God alone. Clear
words are important for clear meanings, and Jesus said, "My words shall
not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).
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