What are some bible verses you have commonly heard misquoted?
Jordan, I have been thinking back over your original question, as well as some of our comments and want to share the following thoughts about quoting and misquoting scripture. There are some distinctions that need to be made to help us better understand the phenomenon.
First, we need to consider the context of the quoting – whether direct quotes of Scripture are actually intended, or whether the person is just making a reference or allusion to Scripture. If they claim to be quoting Scripture, then that settles it. However, we often refer to Scripture without intending or claiming to be directly quoting. This is acceptable, as long as we have not changed it in a way that changes the meaning. The New Testament writers often reference Old Testament Scripture without quoting it. Sometimes we make “stabs” at quoting Scripture! I most often do that when preaching and memory fails me. I usually back up and say “let’s read that so I can get it right.”
There are of course misquotes, which seem to fall into at least three categories: (1) misquotes that change the meaning of the text, (2) misquotes that retain the meaning of the text, and (3) misquotes that may either change or retain the meaning of the text based on the context in which it is quoted. The first is a quote like “Money is the root…” versus “The love of money is the root…” which mean two different things. “Pride goes before a fall” is a truncated quote of Proverbs 16:18 (“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”) but retains the basic meaning of the text while getting the wording wrong. “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” is not a universally applicable statement. To quote it as a universal truth is incorrect (it is not applicable to the lost), but when stated that way in context of truth for Christians, it doesn’t introduce an unscriptural teaching.
Chimney quotes or “Chimney Corner Scripture” are misquotes only in the sense that the person believes the statement he or she is making is found in Scripture – when in fact it isn’t Scripture at all. If you quote “God helps those that help themselves,” you may be correctly quoting Benjamin Franklin, but “misquoting” the Bible. Same goes for “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” (John Wesley), “Spare the rod and spoil the child” (Samuel Butler), and “God moves in a mysterious way” (William Cowper). Chimney quotes often may distill some biblical concepts into pithy statements. Nevertheless, the authority of Scripture should not be assigned to them.
Misdirects might be used to label verses that are quoted correctly (as far as the wording is concerned), but quoted in a context that misapplies the meaning. “Judge not, that ye be not judged” is possibly the most often correctly-quoted incorrectly-applied Scripture in existence! Saints and sinners seem to stand abreast with the “judge not” sword sheathed and set for slicing action.
All misquotations of Scripture do not fall into the same category, and can be of different kinds and degrees. Some retain the meaning and message of Scripture while not rising to the level of an accurate quote. Others misapply and misdirect Scripture and have negative results.