Examine with KJV+

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In recent years there have been countless new modern bible translations.  These modern translations vary from one to the next, because they often add, delete, and alter the original text in an effort to simplify scripture.

However, this has made it more challenging to understand God’s truth, and has caused confusion among many believers.

As you read your favorite bible translation, if the Holy Spirit prompts you to take a closer look at a particular bible verse or passage, then please spend a moment or two in KJV+.   This is an efficient process that will often reveal a more accurate understanding, or insight concerning the verse or passage.  

This is illustrated in the  "e-Sword Set-up, Overview" video. 

KJV+ is the King James Version + with Strong’s Concordance.

The KJV+ offers three major advantages over other bible translations.

The 1st Advantage:  The KJV most closely mirrors the first Early Modern English translation, The Coverdale Bible of 1535, which was translated directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts.  This is verified, below, by comparing the scripture of each translation. 

The Coverdale Bible of 1535 was the first complete English translation. This occurred while the English language was in transition between “Middle English” and “Early Modern English.” 

Examine the similarity of text in Matthew 6:13, The Lord’s Prayer:

Coverdale of 1535: And  lede vs not in to teptacion: but delyuer vs from euell. For thyne is the kyngdome, and the power, and the glorye for euer. Amen.

King James Version: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” 

What does your bible say in Matthew 6:13?

The modern English translations often remove "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."

One more example, and there are many, Luke 4:4; 

Coverdale Bible of 1535: And Iesus answered & sayde vnto hi: It is wrytten: Man shal not lyue by bred onely, but by euery worde of God.

King James Version: “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”

Does your bible maintain or delete “but by every word of God.”?

The 2nd Advantage:  KJV indicates (by italics) where the translators have added words to help with the translation.  This is a common and usually helpful process when translating from one language to another.  However, the added words can change the meaning of  the original sentence if the translator doesn’t fully understand the context of the word, or the intent of the author, which at times is an issue with scripture.  KJV indicates by italics every word that was added, so that we can decide if the added word is helpful or not.  A great example of this is illustrated in the "e-Sword Set-up, Overview" video.

The 3rd Advantage:  The (+) of KJV is Strong's Concordance. Strong's is basically a dictionary that  gives the English definition of, and assigns a unique number to, every word used in The King James Bible, both Old and New Testaments.  This allows us to see the meaning, or multiple meanings, from the original Hebrew,  Aramaic, and Greek words.  And with one click in the e-Sword bible app we can see how many times that particular word was used in scripture and see the context in which it was used.

Read your favorite bible, but Examine with KJV+!

e-Sword Setup, Overview

(This transcript may be useful for copy or translation.)

Hello friends,

This short video is designed to give an introduction to the setup, the efficiency, and the power of the FREE e-Sword bible application.

After you’ve installed this app on your Apple or Android device, click on the upper left of the app and scroll down to the tutorial.

This video represents an Android phone, but the iPhone will look and behave in a similar manner.

The e-Sword tutorial is easy to follow and it should not take long for you to customize your display, download bibles, and more.

It may be helpful for you to customize the first 8 categories shown here and also shown in the Video Text Description. 

Now we will demonstrate a practical example of the accuracy and efficiency of e-Sword when used with KJV+.

Let's take a look at the often misunderstood words in John 15 as Jesus teaches that He is the True Vine, God is the Vinedresser, and His disciples are the “branches”.  We are examining verses 1 through 6, with focus on verse 2.

Please realize that Jesus is speaking to His young, spiritually immature, disciples. However, His Words are for all believers, the spiritually young, the spiritually mature, and the spiritually indifferent.

The message is that believers must remain in Jesus, the True Vine, if they are to be useful, that is, bear fruit!

Now we will focus on verse 2.  We are using the e-Sword app and reading from the ESV, while also displaying the KJV+ at the bottom which synchronizes to the selected verse above.

The ESV reads, every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Remaining in verse two, we notice in KJV+ that the 2nd branch in verse 2 is italicized. This means that when the English translation was made from the original Greek manuscript, the second word “branch” was added by a translator.

For now let’s assume that John meant exactly what he wrote in Greek, nearly 2,000 years ago, and go without that second branch.  This would now translate as “everyone”, or “all” instead of every branch.

But of course, this makes us wonder, why didn't John record Jesus using the word “branch" the second time?

That question draws our interest to the word, “branch.”  Let’s click on that word directly below in KJV+ and take a look at Strong’s G2814.

Well that is interesting!  A limb or a chute, as if broken off?  A young twig?  Maybe the first part of the verse should read, Every ‘young’ branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away.

This may make us want to tap on “he taketh away”, G142.

Well, that is also interesting, it can be used in a couple of ways.  G142 is a primary verb, to lift, only by implication to take up or away.  And we can see that the word, G142 is used more than one hundred times in the New Testament.

If we were to scroll through and note the context of these verses, we would see that it is used in both ways, to take away, and to lift up or support.

With this additional information, quickly provided using KJV+, we may now translate verse two as: Every “young” branch in me that does not bear fruit, he ‘lifts up’. And everyone that bears fruit, he prunes that they may bear more fruit.

Just like a new believer, this branch is “young” or underdeveloped.  It is not yet capable of producing fruit until it grows or matures a bit more.

In summary of John 15:1-6 please note the following:

1)  There is only one “branch” in this parable and that “branch” represents a young, or underdeveloped believer, a new disciple. 

2)  A translator added the italicized “branch” which should not have been added because it changes the meaning of verse 2.  John accurately recorded the words of Jesus in verse two to say,  "ALL that bear fruit”, and not, “every branch that bears fruit”.

3)  In verse six, still speaking of believers, Jesus says that anyone who does not abide in Him is “like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned”.  This means that this believer is like, or compared to, a branch that produces “no fruit” and therefore is useless.

Those that do not understand The True Vine teaching may not realize that when the congregation is resurrected, we, believers, all face the Judgment Seat of Christ, and receive what we were due for what we had done in the body, whether good or evil.

It is important to remember that our source for truth is The Word of God, as taught by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus tells us to learn from Him, saying,  “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  (Matthew 11:29)

Brothers and sisters, pray persistently, and keep a humble heart as you listen carefully to Him.

The Word of God Speaks. 

Bible Search Illustration 

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 Hello again, friends!

This video is designed to illustrate the Bible Search and other valuable functions that are available in the e-Sword application.

We will use the Examine Exercise, “Sovereign”, as the example for this video.

The goal is to show that The Word of God is very clear concerning His sovereignty.

We are using the ESV bible translation.  Of course the search results may vary depending on the bible translation selected in the e-Sword app.

Let’s type “Noah” into the Bible Search.  It returns 51 verses and 57 matches from the Bible.  This means that some verses had the word “Noah” in it more than once.

We can see that selecting the Old Testament yields 43 verses, and that selecting the New Testament yields 8 verses.  And, because we initiated the search from the book of John, we can also select that book, which shows zero results.

The first return, Genesis 5:29 looks promising.  Let’s click on the verse to confirm the context.  It’s Noah’s father, Lamech, and he is prophesying that his newly born son will bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.

And in the next verse we see that Noah’s father lives 595 years after fathering Noah.

We can select “view all” and scroll through the next eleven verses of the “Noah” search.  God is telling Noah that He has determined to “end all flesh” because “the earth is filled with violence”.

And we learn that Noah is a righteous man, and that flood waters came upon the earth when Noah was 600 years old, and that Noah and his family went into the ark to escape the flood. 

If we continue to scroll through the remaining results from Genesis we can see a bit more information about Noah that may refer to God’s sovereignty, but let’s scroll past the rest of these results until we arrive at the prophets.

Isaiah 54:9 speaks directly to God’s sovereignty, but let’s continue to the next two verses which are in Ezekiel.

Noah, Daniel, and Job are being referenced together, in both Ezekiel returns.

We can look at the “Word Reference Diagram” for orientation, and find Noah and the flood, and we can also locate Daniel and see that he is associated with the start of the “Times of the Gentiles” and Babylon.

To find Job on a timeline we could visit the Examine page and click on “Timeline of Biblical History”.  There he is.  It looks like he may have been born about the time that God initiated His covenant with Abraham.

Let’s click on Ezekiel 14:14 and look at the commentary.  Commentary can be helpful for context and orientation, and at times, insight and understanding, but truth is most often found at the source, which is the Word of God, as revealed by the Holy Spirit.

Back at Ezekiel 14:14 if we scroll up two verses we see a Section Heading: “Jerusalem Will Not Be Spared”.

You probably know that bible “section headings” are not part of scripture, but rather they were added by translators to help organize the Bible into manageable sections.

Also known as “pericope” these section headings can be useful today for locating scripture. 

For example, if you want to find “The Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew but you can’t remember the verse, select Matthew, and at the bottom of the screen select pericope and scroll down until you see the section heading that you're interested in, and click on it.  

To get back on track you can use the "history" option to return your focus to Ezekiel 14:14.

As we read the last 12 verses of Ezekiel 14, God clearly states that He is about to desolate His beloved Jerusalem, leaving only some survivors.

The last two verses of Ezekiel 14, are somewhat encouraging, but of course we may be left with many questions. 

This is yet another example of God’s sovereignty, because He said that He would desolate Jerusalem, and He does.

When it seems that God is being harsh or unfair, we may wonder,  “God, why are you doing this?” 

The next Exercise, Seeds, may help to bring understanding to God’s seemingly unfair treatment of His own beloved people.

Although we don’t always understand His ways or His thoughts, we can see that God is sovereign over His creation.  And God is good.

Brothers and sisters, The Word of God is speaking.  Let’s continue to listen.

More e-Sword Features

(This transcript may be useful for copy or translation.)