"Easter" in Acts 12:4, KJV, a booboo...

Please check the Oxford English Dictionay, in 1611 the English term 'easter' could signify the Jewish passover, as had been the case for many hundreds of years. This is not an error in the KJV translation.

 

This is not 1611.
Easter doesn't mean Passover today.
In fact in probably never did.
I suspect the Oxford Dictionary is providing accomodation to this blunder.

In the original koine language there was never any confusion as to the meaning of pascha.

The KJV translators introduced this word "easter" for "pascha" here and only here thereby introducing confusion into the text of which God cannot be the author since he didn't make the distinction in the original language.

HankD

 

I'm to lazy to dig out my OED again, but here's some more info from the web that might change your mind:

http://www.learnthebible.org/Occam's%20Razor.htm

The second definition is even more telling.  It simply says "The Jewish passover. Obs."  Of course, "obs." means obsolete; that is, it is not commonly used this way today but there was a time when it was.   As proof of this definition of Easter, it then gives quotes from the years 971, c.1000, 1398, 1535, 1563 and 1611.  The 1611 quotation is from Acts 12:4 in the King James Bible.  Even more telling is the quotation from 1535.  It is taken from Coverdale's Bible in Ezekiel 45:21, "Upon the 14th day of the first month ye shall keep Easter" (spelling modernized).  Easter was considered the correct name for the Passover in 1535.

In fact, the word Passover was not found in the English language until William Tyndale invented it for his translation of the Penteteuch in 1530.  Up until that time, the Passover was always referred to as Easter.  No distinction was made.  In 1611, only 81 years later, Easter was still considered a correct name for the Passover.

 

Strictly speaking, it's not an error; however, it *is* a confusing and misleading translation. The English word "Easter" can mean three things -- a pagan festival, a Jewish festival, or a Christian festival. The English word "Passover" can only mean one thing -- the Jewish festival. So the KJV's translation of πασχα as "Easter" is ambiguous and therefore inferior to "Passover," the more precise translation of the 1599 Geneva Bible before it and the modern versions after it.

 

Is the word "Easter" an error in the King James Bible?

In Acts 12:3 we are told of Peter being taken prisoner by Herod. “Then were the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.”

The Greek word translated as Easter is pascha. Some say the word should only be translated as Passover and not Easter. The KJV is not alone in translating this word as Easter. The Tyndale, Bishop’s, Coverdale, Matthew’s, Cranmer, the Great Bible (which preceeded the KJB), and Martin Luther also translated this word as Easter.

Words can acquire new meanings with changing circumstances and be applied in new ways. When you turned on your computer, you used your “mouse”. Some argue the word pascha does not mean Easter in Greek but any modern Greek dictionary will tell you the way to say Easter is Pascha.

Most of us know how to say Merry Christmas in Spanish. Feliz Navidad. But millions of Spanish speaking people also say Happy Easter with the words Feliz Pascuas, the very same Greek word. This word also means Easter in Latin, French, Italian, Dutch and Swedish.

Why would this word become Easter for the English speaking people? The word pascha is translated all other times in the KJB as passover, referring to the annual Jewish feast of offering a lamb to God to commemorate their deliverance out of slavery in Egypt.

Yet after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, this word is used only twice, once here and once in I Cor. 5:7, where we are told, “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” Tyndale’s Bible actually says, “For Christ our Easter lamb is offered up for us.”

It makes no sense at all to believe that Tyndale, Martin Luther, Cranmer, Coverdale, Matthews, the Great Bible, and the Bishop’s Bible were referring to a pagan deity of the spring called Eastre or Ishtar when they called Christ the easterlamb.

It is likewise grammatically absurd to think Easter refers to a pagan deity in Acts 12:4 where it says, “intending after Easter to bring him forth unto the people”. Try substituting another name there and see how it sounds. Intending after Buddha to bring him forth, or intending after Krishna to bring him forth to the people.

Believers who say that Easter was a pagan holiday use the argument that Passover occurred before the days of unleavened bread, and so the Passover had already taken place. However in Luke 22:1 we see that the entire feast of 7 days was collectively called the Passover. “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.” The term Passover may also refer to the entire week, including the 7 days of unleavened bread after the lamb was slain every year.

The KJB is actually the most accurate translation, in that it uses the word passover before the death and resurrection of Christ and then Easter the only time the word occurs in the book of Acts after His resurrection.

Some say the word Easter comes from the name of the goddess Ishtar or Eastre. The truth is found in any good dictionary that both Eastre and Easter come from the word East, but they are not related to each other in meaning. The sun rises in the east, to bring the light of a new day, and we are told concerning Christ in Malachi 4:2, “But unto you that fear my name shall the SUN of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”

The passover was a type of the true lamb of God who delivers His people out of the bondage of sin. Yet in the Jewish passover, there is no type of the resurrection, only the death of the lamb. The main theme of the preaching in Acts is the glorious resurrection of the lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

The Holy Ghost is speaking here in Acts 12, and He changed the meaning of the term pascha to mean Easter. After all, there was no Easter before this great event. It is associated with the Jewish passover as a yearly holy day. Did not the same thing occur with what was previously called the “passover meal”? It is no longer called the "passover meal" by Christians, nor is it celebrated only once a year, but it is called, “The Lord’s Supper", in I Cor. 11:20, and can be celebrated as many times a year as we wish - I Cor.11:26. But only one time a year do we celebrate the resurrection, and this event is called in English, Easter.

Some would argue that the early Christians didn’t celebrate Easter at this time, so it can not properly be called by this name but should be passover. The early Christians began very soon to commemorate the yearly event called Easter.

Around 120 A.D., Polycarp, who was a disciple of John, went to see the Christian leader Anicetus to discuss the proper date for this celebration. Britannica.com. says, "Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, visited Rome to confer with him about the controversy over the date of Easter." Those in Jerusalem celebrated it on the moveable date of the 14th of Nisan (the Jewish passover) while those in Rome did it on the first Sunday after passover. They decided to let each group continue as they had been doing, rather than cause a split.

Christians had obviously been celebrating Easter before 120 A.D., since they met to discuss its proper date and not the fact of its observance. God is now calling the passover Easter because of its new signifiance. He calleth those things which be not, as though they were.

Has He not done this before in His word? Genesis 14:14 tells us that Abraham pursued those who had taken Lot captive “unto Dan.” There was not even a tribe of Israel called Dan let alone a city named after them at this time. But God knew there would be.

In Gen. 21:14, 21, God calls the name of a place Beersheba before it is so named. In Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1, God speaks of Cyrus, my shepherd, his anointed “whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him”, as though he already existed, yet Cyrus would not be born till many years later.

Again in Romans 4:17, “As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” At the time Abraham had only one son, Ishmael. He was hardly a father of many nations, yet God says he had already made him a father of many nations.

There are two other examples in the scriptures of a religious holiday being established by God’s people to commemorate a great deliverance or event. In Esther 9:26-27 we see the feast of Purim established. “Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year.”

The other one is found in John 10:22 were we read, “And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.” This feast of the dedication was instituted in 164 BC when after Antiochas Ephiphanes defiled the temple and Judas Maccaebeus rededicated it. This holiday is now called Hanukkah.

Words can adapt to new meanings and events can obtain new significance. What was once called by one name can now be called by another. Much has changed since the victory over death and the putting away of sin; the types have been fulfilled and their significance brought to light in the face of Jesus Christ.

I am well aware of how this original Christian celebration of Easter has been corrupted over the years with the bunnies, candies, and eggs. But these corruptions came about much later in the history of the church.

What things of Christ and of God have not been corrupted to some degree by the world and even by the church itself? Nevertheless, there remains the central kernel of divine truth in I Cor. 15:20, that “Christ is risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept”. The word Easter in Acts 12:4 is not an error, but rather a fuller revelation of the significance of the passover lamb, His sacrifice for our sins, and His resurrection from the dead.

Will Kinney

For another article by Scott Jones which shows that Easter is the correct translation here, go to http://www.lamblion.net/Articles/ScottJones/easter_or_passover.htm

 

Not in the direct context of Acts 12:4 and the relationship to the days of unleavened bread and the desire of Herod to please the pharisees.

Will, while I might agree with you in several other areas this is pure eisogesis on the part of the KJVO.

HankD

 

I wouldn't call it an error per se, but I would call it an obsolete use of the word which stemmed from an incorrect use of it in the vernacular of the time. The Greek word in question is pascha It is the Greek word for Pesach, which is what we in English call Passover.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary clearly point out how it was the the KJV translators decided to use the word, even though it was not the correct word to use:

originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of
whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name
came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occured
at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word was
frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the
Authorized Version (1611) was formed, the word "passover" was used in all
passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Act 12:4. In the Revised
Version the proper word, "passover," is always used.

 

Easter is the only correct translation in Acts 12:4. The Bible clearly tells you in Acts 12:3 that "then were the days of unleavened bread." That being the case, according to the Biblical chronology given in Leviticus 23:5, on the 14th day of the first month is the Lords passover. The next day--the day AFTER Passover--begins the days of unleavened bread. Lev 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. (KJV) So if you translate it Passover as the modern versions, you make a contradiction of scripture with scripture. If you leave it as Easter, there is no problem; particularly since it is a Pagan Roman celebrating Easter. Herod wouldnt be celebrating passover.

Easter is right because:
1) it does not cause of contradiction of scripture
2) Romans celebrate Roman holidays, not Jewish ones.

 

"Passover" in scripture can mean either the first day (the day before the days of unleavened bread), or the entire feast week (that begins with the Day of Passover and includes the rest of the feast days).

Read Exodus 12, and you'll see that in the first month (Abib), the Passover feast takes place on the 14th. Next, there are seven days of eating unleavened bread, with a feast on the last day (7th day, or Abib 21 - Exo 13:6). This entire week is called the "Feast of Unleavened Bread" (Exo 34:17, Lev 23:6, etc.) Thus, the Passover feast proper is on the 14th, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is from the 15th to the 21st. NOW READ CAREFULLY: Luke 22:1 says "Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover." Luke himself calls the *entire 8 day period* "Passover".

Besides, the Greek says "pascha". If "Easter" is correct and "Passover" is wrong, the Holy Spirit made a boo-boo and inspired the wrong word.

 

Brian T,
the bible is clear and the verses i showed you are clear. "passover can mean a week" is all wrong and simply said to support what you think the Holy Spirit shouldve said. i dont think a greek text is inerrant so i dont think the HOLY spirit messed up when he said Easter. Thats the only word that can fit for the reasons i gave earlier. Holy Spirit was right again and those that disagree with him are free to be wrong for whatever reason they want to be wrong.

 

Yes, but they don't support your position, especially when you also consider the verses that I posted, that are also clear. Don't ignore them just because they show you to be wrong.

Did you even read my post? Luke was all wrong?

You have it backwards. I'm simply supporting what the Holy Spirit *did* say: pascha. Deal with it.

 

I read Easter in my Bible. BrianT. Your reading IDEAS into Luke, you arent reading WORDS. Your citation of Luke offers no support to call the KJV wrong. Luke said the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the Passover... NOT, the DAYS OF UNLEAVENED bread were the passover. What I told you about the chronology in Leviticus is not contradicted by Luke. read the WORDS of your own quote, not the IDEA you already have about it. the FEAST is not a seven day period, it is a meal that happens one night, passover night. real simple bro. as all of us KJV folks will always say that its the WORDS that are important and its the WORDS that you arent reading in this case.

 

"Easter" is not in the bible, it's in a translation. Pascha is Greek for "Passover". It is NOT Greek for "Easter". The original "Easter" was a pagan ritual of the anglo-saxons, and was not known about to the Greeks or Romans.

Also, the notion that it's related to the word "Ishtar" is incorrect. The word is derived from the saxon "Eoster", not "Ishtar". Eoster, the goddess of spring, arose in language in the eighth century.

 

John. Easter is in my Bible. The pascha thing doesnt amount to anything really since pascha was translated to Easter up until wycliffe created the word passover. then i suppose all the lexicons had to change huh.? Your etymology about the anglo saxon history is nice, but according to the Bible it goes all the way back to Genesis 14:5 to Ashteroth. This turns out to be the area of Idumea, where Herod was from. Ashteroth is the same female demon that is the Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah, the Diana of Ephesus in Acts, the Easter of Springtime for Herod and Rome in Acts, and the Mary of the Roman Catholic Church. All pagan religions have a female deity in their Trinity. It wasnt an creation of the Anglo Saxons.

 

Yes, I am reading his WORDS. Here are his WORDS: "Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover." Luke explicitly says the "feast of unleavened bread" is "called the Passover". Exo 34:18, Lev 23:6 and others say that the "feast of unleavened bread" is 7 days long, starting on the 15th of the month, immediately AFTER the day of the Passover Feast, which is on the 14th of the month.

Timeline:
- Passover Feast on the 14th
- Feast of Unleavened Bread from the 15th to the 21st.

Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, called the "Feast of Unleavened Bread" (the 7 days after the Passover Feast) "Passover". This is not reading anything into Luke - this is black and white explicit. You see, "Passover Feast" refers to the single day on the 14th. "Passover" can refer to the single day on the 14th, or to the entire week ending on the 21st.

Yes, he did. And as I've pointed out, there are scriptures in the OT that say the FEAST of Unleavened Bread starts on the 15th and lasts for 7 days. Since I've explained this enough on this forum, and yet I keep having to repeat it, obviously people are too lazy to actually look up the verses from themselves, and just dismiss me without verifying. So here, let me make this painfully easy and obvious:

Exd 23:15 Thou shalt keep the FEAST of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty

Exd 34:18 The FEAST of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.

Lev 23:6 And on the FIFTEENTH day of the same month [is] the FEAST of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

2 Chron 30:21 And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the FEAST of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, [singing] with loud instruments unto the LORD.

2 Chron 35:17 And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the FEAST of unleavened bread seven days.

Ezra 6:22 And kept the FEAST of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Scripture repeatedly says the FEAST of unleavened bread, which follows the Passover Feast, is 7 days. Luke calls the FEAST of unleavened bread "Passover", thus "Passover" can refer to the whole 8-day period. This is not rocket science.

My citiation of Luke offers undeniable support that YOUR UNDERSTANDING of the KJV is wrong. The KJV is actually correct, as "Easter" and "Passover" basically synonymns when the KJV was produced. It is not wrong to use "Easter" in Acts 12:4 (or any other verse for that matter) if one understands "Easter" to be a synonymn for "Passover". Where the mistake is made, and KJV-only supporters make it OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER, is to make a distinction between "Easter" and "Passover". Once you do that, you basically call Luke a liar.

Yes, it is simple. You have it wrong. Simple. The Passover Feast is on the 14th. The FEAST of unleavened bread is from the 15th to the 21st (see scriptures above).

Care to rescind that? If not, explain the verses I posted.

 

Easter means the celebration of Christ's Resurrection. Herod would never observe that. He certainly would keep the passover.