Revelation 18:20
Bible agnostic Gary Lehman posts this criticism of the text behind the King James Bible. Apparently his point is that the KJB somehow has followed the wrong texts, but you never really know what Gary’s points are. You see, Gary is a bible agnostic who does not believe that any Bible in any language IS or ever was the complete, inspired and 100% true words of God.
Gary Lehman posts: ευφραινου επ αυτη ουρανε και οι αγιοι και οι αποστολοι και οι προφηται οτι εκρινεν ο θεος το κριμα υμων εξ αυτης
(Revelation 18:20) Byzantine Majority Text
"Rejoice over her, you heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her." ~ 1769 KJV
"exulta super eam caelum et sancti et apostoli et prophetae quoniam iudicavit Deus iudicium vestrum de illa" ~ Latin Vulgate
"Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!” ~ ESV
(1.) saints (2.) apostles (3.) prophets
He then proceeds to tell us: “A missing “kai o” was missing between hagioi and apostoloi in the 1550 Stephanus and thereby the KJV translators translated “holy apostles” instead of “saints and apostles”. Even the Majority of the so-called Antioch text that the KJVO-ist tout tell us there should be an “kai o” in the Greek."
(End of this particular criticism of the KJB by Gary Lehman)
Well, first of all, Bible Agnostic Gary has a few of his “facts” mixed up, but this always comes with the territory when dealing with a guy who does not have an inspired and infallible Bible to believe in nor to give to anyone else.
What he tells us is “missing” is not “kai o” but “kai oi” and it is only Lehman's personal opinion that it is “missing” rather than “added” in the new Catholic bible versions he promotes.
Secondly, he can't even quote the King James Bible correctly. It actually reads: "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her."
The King James Bible follows the Traditional Greek text that became known as the Textus Receptus. It reads - ευφραινου επ αυτην ουρανε και οι αγιοι αποστολοι και οι προφηται οτι εκρινεν ο θεος το κριμα υμων εξ αυτης
Gary, the Bible agnostic, does not have a single text for the entire book of Revelation, let alone the complete New Testament and certainly not one for the whole Bible that he thinks are the complete and infallible words of God. Just ask him and you will see; he has NO 100% true Bible in any language to give you.
He might mutter some pious sounding phrase about how "only the original languages are the 100% true words of God", but he can never show you what this imaginary text looks like nor where to get a copy of it.
He is apparently blissfully unaware of the fact that all those literally THOUSANDS of variant readings, additions, omissions and often absurd readings are all found "in the original languages"!
For one to tell us that God's words are found "in the original languages" is to tell us absolutely nothing concrete and definite about what God actually said or did not say. It's just a religious sounding phrase that men like Gary L., Rick Norris, James White and other members of the "Yeah, hath God said?" society like to use when they want to give us the impression that they actually believe in some kind of a real "Bible".
The fact is, not one of these men believes there exists any complete Bible in any language or languages that ever was or is now "the complete, hold it in your hands, read and believe every word" type of Bible on the face of this earth, and they want you to come around to believe the same way they do.
Gary Lehman claims the “Majority” text has these two extra words (kai hoi), but Gary himself does not believe for a moment that the so called “Majority Text” (there really is no such animal) IS the infallible words of God. In fact, his modern Catholic bible versions like the ESV, NIV, NASB reject the “Majority readings” easily 20 times as often as does the King James Bible.
See Undeniable Proof the ESV, NIV, NASBs are the new "Catholic" bible versions here-
http://brandplucked.webs.com/realcatholicbibles.htm
There is no consensus as to what the so called “Majority text” actually is. Even in the Hodges-Farstad Majority Text the book of Revelation is divided into 5 different sections of “majority” readings - A, B, C, D and E. The Hodges-Farstad majority shows that the reading found in the King James Bible (and MANY other Bibles as well) is found in part E of the majority and in the uncial manuscript called C and in the Textus Receptus.
In his book “When the KJV departs from the “majority” text, Bible believer Jack Moorman documents that the Greek reading found in the King James Bible (and in many others as we shall soon see), is that found in “most of the Andreas manuscripts, the Complete Greek Texts of Stephanus, Beza, Elziver, and in manuscripts C, E, 051, 1, 35, 41, 2057, 2329, 30 of Hoskiers cursives plus 3 of his family groupings. Von Soden indicates I, 181, 209, 296, 598, 743, 2026, 2028, 2029, 2031, 2033, 2054, 2055, 2056, 2059, 2060, 2065, 2068 and 2081. It is also the reading found in the Old Latin a, and gig; the Vulgate Clementine, the early Armenian translation, and is so quoted by Apringius in 551, Andreas in Cappadocia 614, Beatus in Latin in 786 and Haymo, Halberstadt in 841.
Not only does the King James Bible say: “YE HOLY APOSTLES AND PROPHETS" but so do Wycliffe’s bible 1395 - “Heuene, and hooli apostlis, and prophetis, make ye ful out ioye on it, for God hath demed youre dom of it.”, Tyndale 1534, Coverdale 1535, the Great Bible 1540, Matthew’s Bible 1549, the Geneva Bible 1587 - “O heauen, reioyce of her, and YE HOLY APOSTLES AND PROPHETS: for God hath punished her to be reuenged on her for your sakes.”, Beza's N.T. 1599, the Bill Bible 1671, Mace's New Testament 1729, Worsley Version 1770, the Clarke N.T. 1795, Thomas Haweis N.T. 1795, the Thomson Bible 1808, the Longman Version 1841, the Morgan N.T. 1848, The Hewett N.T. 1850, The Commonly Received Version 1851, The Revised N.T. 1862, the Smith Bible 1876, the Dillard N.T. 1885, Young’s literal translation 1898, Green’s literal 2005 version, the KJV 21st Century Version 1994, and the Third Millennium Bible 1998.
Other English Bible that also read "YE HOLY APOSTLES AND PROPHETS" in Revelation 18:20 are The Word of Yah 1993, The Interlinear Greek New Testament 1997 (Larry Pierce), Lawrie Translation 1998, The Last Days Bible 1999, God's First Truth 1999, The Tomson New Testament 2002, The Evidence Bible 2003, The Resurrection Life New Testament 2005, Bond Slave Version 2009, Holy Scriptures VW Edition 2010, Conservative Bible 2011, and The Work of God's Children Illustrated Bible 2011, The Natural Israelite Bible 2012 - "Rejoice over her, O heaven, and YOU HOLY APOSTLES AND PROPHETS..." and The New Matthew Bible 2016.
The Catholic Connection
The older Catholic Douay-Rheims 1582 read exactly like the King James Bible - “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and YE HOLY APOSTLES AND PROPHETS; for God hath judged your judgment on her.”
It is the newer Catholic bibles that have changed their text and now agree with the other Post Reformation versions like the RSV, ESV, NASB, NIV, Holman, Jehovah Witness NWT and NET versions. The St. Joseph New American Bible 1970 and the New Jerusalem bible 1985 both read like these other modern versions (ESV, NIV, NASB) and say “ALL YOU SAINTS AND APOSTLES AND PROPHETS."
The Syriac Peshitta (Lamsa 1936) reads very differently here. It says: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, AND ANGELS, apostles, and prophets, for God has avenged you on her. “
The Vulgate Clementine also reads like the KJB - “et sancti apostoli, et prophetæ “
Among the numerous foreign language Bibles that agree with the King James Bible and follow the same Greek texts reading “ye holy apostles and prophets” are the French Martin of 1744 - “et vous aussi, saints Apôtres et Prophètes”, the French Ostervald 1996, Martin Luther’s German bible 1545 - “Freue dich über sie, Himmel und ihr heiligen Apostel und Propheten! “, the 1953 Africaans bible - “en o heilige apostels en profete”, the Italian Diodati 1649 and the New Diodati of 1991 - “e voi santi apostoli e profeti”, the Portuguese Almeida 1681 - "Alegra-te sobre ela, ó céu, e vós, santos apóstolos e profetas;", the Spanish Reina Valera 1858 (but not the 1960, 95), and the Spanish Reina Valera Gomez of 2010 - “Alégrate sobre ella, cielo, y vosotros santos apóstoles y profetas”, the Russian Synodal Version 1870 - "Веселись о сем, небо и святые Апостолы и пророки; ибо совершил Бог суд ваш над ним."
and the Modern Greek Bible - “Ευφραινου επ' αυτην, ουρανε, και οι αγιοι αποστολοι και οι προφηται, διοτι εκρινεν ο Θεος την κρισιν σας εναντιον αυτης."
You can see a copy of the Modern Greek bible at the Unbound Bible site seen here -
Bible agnostics like Gary Lehman, James White and so many others out there today in Bible Babble Buffet Land will NEVER tell you where you can get a copy of God's complete and 100% historically true words.
Instead they all unite in attacking the only Bible believed by thousands upon thousands of born again Christians to be the very words of the living God.
They will flit from one reading or the change of a single letter in a verse and criticize and cast doubt on this one Book. They really like being the final authority who can inform the "uneducated" about what God REALLY said.
It's very heady stuff and more addictive than any drug.
But don't expect any of these men to tell you where you can get a copy of God's infallible words; they simply don't have them, but they would feel a whole lot better about themselves and their present position of denying the existence of a perfect Bible if you too would join them in their unbelief.
"The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?" Jeremiah 8:9
By His grace, believing The Book and "Accepted in the Beloved"
Will Kinney
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