From time to time I hear a claim that King James I interfered with the translation of the Bible he sponsored by demanding words or phrases not be used. There is no evidence of this ever occurring. The only directions we are aware of are fifteen guidelines for the translation process.
Today, I came across a claim on Twitter (original video above) that James did not want the word tyrant used in his translation. That video claims, “But King James didn’t like this word, so he took it out and replaced it with something different.” James was an advocate of the divine right of monarchy to rule (and wrote about it), and so it is claimed that he would be sensitive to criticism of a such a monarchy as “tyranny”.
Translation Comparison
The primary comparison used is KJV with the Geneva Bible, with some attention paid to other earlier translations like the Bishop’s Bible or the Coverdale Bible. Using BibleHub and BibleGateway, here are the relevant verses compared:
- Job 3:17
- Hebrew – Strong’s H7267
- Geneva Bible – “The wicked have there ceased from their tyranny, and there they that labored valiantly, are at rest.”
- Also in Bishops and Coverdale.
- KJV – “There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.”
- Other translations use words like “trouble” or “raging”
- Job 6:23
- Hebrew – Strong’s H6184
- Geneva Bible – “And deliver me from the enemy’s hand, or ransom me out of the hand of tyrants?”
- In Bishops but not Coverdale
- KJV – “Or, Deliver me from the enemy’s hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?”
- Other translations use “ruthless, except the NASB which does use “tyrant”.
- Job 15:20
- Hebrew – Strong’s H6184
- Geneva Bible – “The wicked man is continually as one that travaileth of child, and the number of years is hid from the tyrant.”
- Also in Bishops and Coverdale
- KJV – “The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.”
- Other translations are mainly “ruthless”
- Job 27:13
- Hebrew – Strong’s H6184
- Geneva Bible – “This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of tyrants, which they shall receive of the Almighty.”
- Also in Bishops and Coverdale
- KJV – “This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.”
- Other translations: NASB has “tyrants” while others vary.
- Psalm 54:3
- Hebrew – Strong’s H6184
- Geneva Bible – “For strangers are risen up against me, and tyrants seek my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.”
- In Bishops but not Coverdale.
- KJV – “For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.”
- Other translations mainly have “ruthless” or “violent men”
- Isaiah 13:11
- Hebrew – Strong’s H6184
- Geneva Bible – “And I will visit the wickedness upon the world, and their iniquity upon the wicked, and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will cast down the pride of tyrants.”
- Also in Bishops and Coverdale
- KJV – “And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”
- Other translations have a mix of words like “tyrant” or “ruthless”
- Isaiah 49:25
- Hebrew – Strong’s H6184
- Geneva Bible – “But thus saith the Lord, Even the captivity of the mighty shall be taken away: and the prey of the tyrant shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children,”
- Not in Bishops or Coverdale
- KJV – “But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.”
- Most other translations have “tyrant”.
- Jeremiah 15:21
- Hebrew – Strong’s H6184
- Geneva Bible – “And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the tyrants.”
- Also in Bishops and Coverdale
- KJV – “And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.”
- Other translations mostly have “cruel”, “ruthless” or “violent”, but a few do have “tyrant”.
- James 2:6
- Not found in Greek.
- Geneva Bible – “But ye have despised the poor. Do not the rich oppress you by tyranny, and do they not draw you before the judgment seats?”
- Also in Bishops, but not Coverdale or Tyndale.
- KJV – “But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?”
- Most other translations do not have a parallel, a few have “exploit”
Regarding the Geneva Bible
The Geneva Bible was a tremendous achievement. It is essentially the world’s first “study Bible”, with notes, maps, and other features found in most Bible printed today. It did a great job of translation and was the primary Bible of English Protestantism for almost a century.
However, the downfall of the Geneva Bible is likely attributed to the added notes, in which are found many strong political statements. Remember that the Reformation was not just religious, it was political. For example of political commentary is found in a note in Daniel 11:36 states “So long the tyrants shall prevail as God hath appointed to punish his people: but he showeth that it is but for a time.” Simply put, the Geneva Bible was a politically disruptive force.
Historical Language Analysis
Today word tyrant might mean “an absolute ruler unrestrained by law or constitution” or “a ruler who exercises absolute power oppressively or brutally”.
In the ancient world it was a little different. The word tyrant comes from Greek, where it described opportunists that seized power with little or no right to do so. Originally it did have any connotation, good or bad, but developed a bad one over time.
As Western society progressed into the Enlightenment, tyranny became something to be despised. John Locke described it as “the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to; and this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private, separate advantage.”
Old Testament Language Analysis
Because of the Greek heritage of the word and idea behind a tyrant, there really is not clear equivalent in ancient Hebrew.
The Geneva Bible translated this word as “tyrant” only in Job 3:17.
Strong’s defines as “commotion, restlessness (of a horse), crash (of thunder), disquiet, anger — fear, noise, rage, trouble(-ing), wrath.”
Conclusion – Tyranny is probably not the best word here. It is describing the actions of the wicked as being turbulent, nothing inherently tyrannical here.
This word is translated 7x in the Geneva Bible as “tyrant”. It occurs 20x overall
Strong’s defines as “fearful, i.e. Powerful or tyrannical — mighty, oppressor, in great power, strong, terrible, violent.”
Conclusion – Tyrant is not a bad translation of this word, but it is one application of a broader idea, which is “something to be feared that is mighty and oppressive”. Some appearances like Proverbs 11:16 or Jeremiah 20:11 do not contain the idea of being a tyrant. Again, “tyrant” is not an inaccurate translation in some cases but it is definitely not an equivalent for the Hebrew word.
New Testament Language Analysis
As we saw above, the only appearance of “tyrant” in the Geneva Bible’s New Testament in James 2:6 does not appear to have a textual basis. I’ll leave figuring that out to someone else, but I will show you the one time “tyrant” appears in the Greek New Testament: Acts 19:9. Yes, the name Tyrannus (Strong’s G5181) literally means “tyrant”.
Conclusion
So, according to the argument presented in the beginning, King James I did not like the word tyrant because it could be thought of as critical of his monarchy. He then supposedly directed the translators of the KJV to not use the word “tyrant”. We cited the references in the Geneva Bible (and others) that use the word tyrant where the KJV does not.
Case closed, right?
No, because the presented argument is critically flawed.
All we must do to utterly destroy the argument is show that the KJV does include the word tyrant. This completely undermines the foundation for the argument.
But didn’t we admit that the KJV does not contain the word tyrant? Yes and no.
What we proved above is that tyrant is not found in the Old or New Testaments of the KJV.
Here is the fatal flaw: no one that presents this argument bothered to look in the Apocrypha of the original KJV. If anyone had bothered to do so, you will quickly find that the word tyrant appears 3x in the KJV Apocrypha:
- Wisdom of Solomon 12:14 – “Neither shall king or tyrant be able to set his face against thee for any whom thou hast punished.”
- II Maccabees 4:25 – “So he came with the king’s mandate, bringing nothing worthy the high priesthood, but having the fury of a cruel tyrant, and the rage of a savage beast.”
- II Maccabees 7:27 – “But she bowing herself toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, spake in her country language on this manner; O my son, have pity upon me that bare thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee such three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age, and endured the troubles of education.”
It should not be a surprise that Wisdom of Solomon and II Maccabees were originally written in Greek. The original writes used the Greek term for tyrant and the English translators used the English equivalent.
So, to counter the original argument:
- King James could not have forbidden the use of the word tyrant because it does appear in the work of the translators within the Apocrypha.
- The Greek etymology and heritage of tyrant makes it anachronistic to use in ancient Hebrew, meaning there is not equivalent that must be translated as such.
Oh, and I guess since the word “pudding” isn’t used in the KJV that James must have directed the translators to not talk about British desserts.