Matthew 23:24 in the KJV (1611) |
In
1909, commentator Alfred Plummer wrote, “‘Strain at a gnat’ (AV.) was originally a
misprint for ‘strain out a gnat’ (Tyndale, Coverdale, Geneva ,
RV.), the object being to avoid drinking what was declared to be unclean.” More recently Daniel Wallace, in an article titled
(ironically) Fifteen Myths About Bible
Translation, used the KJV’s phrase “Strain at a gnat” as an example
of “Some of the typos and blatant errors of the 1611 KJV.” Author James D. Price has asserted that in
Matthew 23:24 , “The word at must be a misprint for out.” Even Bruce Metzger wrote that the KJV’s rendering there is “A printer’s error.”
Some
commentators in the 1800’s were also confident that the KJV’s rendering was a
misprint: Adam Clarke stated in 1826
that “It is likely to have been at first an error of the press.” Albert Barnes, in 1835, not only affirmed that
“It should have been, to strain OUT a gnat,” but even proceeded to state, “So
it was undoubtedly rendered by the translators.
The common reading is a misprint, and should be corrected.” George Campbell (in 1814 and 1837), John Peter Lange (in
1884, translated by Philip Shaff), Marvin Vincent (in 1887), and A. T. Robertson (in 1932) are also part of the collection of commentators who have flatly
asserted that the KJV’s rendering is a misprint, going all the way back to John
Wesley in 1791. All this may have been
elicited by a comment made by Robert Lowth, who mentioned the passage in 1764 in a book
on English grammar, stating that “The impropriety of the Preposition has wholly
destroyed the meaning of the phrase.”
In 1638, when the second Cambridge folio edition of the King
James Version was released – having been carefully prepared by a team of
scholars that included Samuel Ward and John Bois, who had been part of the
translation-committee that had initially produced the KJV in 1611 – the
rendering in Matthew 23:24 was not changed. Now,
this is not some obscure detail in a book-summary or in an apocryphal book; we are
considering a phrase in the words of Jesus; if it were a
printing-error, it seems strange that 27 years of scrutiny by friend and foe did
not detect it.
John Whitgift |
On March 26, 1574 ,
John Whitgift preached a sermon which was published by Henry Bynneman, with the
title, A Godlie Sermon Preched Before the Queenes Maiestie at Grenewich the 26. of March last past by Doctor Whitgift, Deane of Lincolne. In the course of
this sermon, Whitgift stated the following (retaining the old spelling): “we
may say vnto them as Christ sayd vnto the Pharisies: Ye hypocrites, ye
stumble at a strawe and leape ouer a blocke: ye straine at a Gnat, &
swallow vp a Camell.”
In addition, on page 523 of the third volume of Whitgift’s
works, one can find a sentence that runs, “Whereas M. Doctor compareth us with
the Pharisees, and saith we do all to be seen of men, and that we hold down our
heads in the streets, and strain at a gnat swallowing down a camel; because they
are in all men’s knowledge, I will leave it to them to judge of the truth of
those things.”
In 1587, Archbishop Whitgift was busily persecuting the
Separatist leaders Henry Barrow and John Greenwood (who were both executed in
1593). In a summarized description of the claims that were being made by Barrow and Greenwood against the Church of England, Whitgift included the following in his list of their “schismatic and
seditious opinions” – “That all the Precise, which refuse the Ceremonies of the
Church, and yet preach in the same Church, strain at a Gnat and swallow a
Cammel, and are close Hypocrites, and walk in a left-handed Policy.”
In 1572, Rudolph Gwalther wrote An hundred, threescore and fiftene Homelyes or Sermons, vppon the Actes of the Apostles, written by Saint Luke, in Latin, and this was translated into English by John Bridges in 1616. The translated text included the following sentence: “Suche lyke
things as these Chryst vpbraydeth them with in the Gospel, where he sayth they
strayne at a Gnat, and swalowe downe a Camell.”
“The manner then of discouering, is not too backebyte one
another, or too taunt and vpbrayd one another by this and that, and too play the
hipocrytes, who will streyne at a gnat, and swallowe vp and Oxe or a Sheepe at
a morsell: that is too say, which will make conscience in very small and lyght
matters, and not see a number of great enormities, which they suffer too passe
hard by their nozes, without beeing any whit offended at them.”
Also, in 1583, a book was published which was written by Robert
Greene, called Mamillia, A Mirrour or Looking Glasse for the Ladies of England, and in it he wrote a very long
sentence on page 156, of which I present a portion, with and without the
antiquated spelling:
. . . yea they accufe women of wauering
when as they themfelues are fuch weathercocks as euerie wind can turne their
tippets, and euerie new face make them haue a new fancy, difpraifing others as
guiltie of that crime wherewith they themfelues are moft infected, moft
vniuftly ftraining at a gnat, and letting paffe an elephant . . .
That is: . . . Yea; they accuse women of wavering when as they themselves are such weathercocks as every wind can turn their tippets, and every new face make them have a new fancy, dispraising others as guilty of that crime wherewith they themselves are most infected, most unjustly straining at a gnat, and letting pass an elephant . . .
That is: . . . Yea; they accuse women of wavering when as they themselves are such weathercocks as every wind can turn their tippets, and every new face make them have a new fancy, dispraising others as guilty of that crime wherewith they themselves are most infected, most unjustly straining at a gnat, and letting pass an elephant . . .
George Abbot |
This evidence is further augmented by a snippet from the works of George Abbot, who was one of the KJV’s
translators – he was part of the Second Company, which focused on the Gospels,
Acts, and Revelation – and who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1611 to 1633. Abbot wrote
the following in his Exposition Upon the Prophet Jonas, Lecture 12, published in 1613 but composed before 1600 (page 254):
“This is a fault too common among the sons of men, to dread
that which is little, and to pass by that which is more; to make a straining at
a gnat, and to swallow up a whole camel.”
And, in 1610, Thomas Gainsforth composed The Vision and Discourse of Henry the Seuenth Concerning the Unitie of Great Brittaine, and therein he wrote
these lines (I have updated the spelling):
And different minds their different fancies follow;
They shun the mean, and seek extremities,
They strain at Gnats, and Elephants do swallow.”
Gainsforth’s reference is especially interesting because he
gives no indication that he is using Matthew 23:24 ;
the contrast (here, and in Robert Greene’s book) is between gnats and elephants, rather than between a gnat and a
camel.
From page 254 of George Abbot's Exposition on the Prophet Jonas. |
However, it is not as if there is anything wrong with the
rendering “strain out” which is found in most English translations. The Greek term διϋλίζοντες (diulizontes) – used only here in the New Testament – refers to the act of
using a strainer or filter to remove impurities from liquid. Whether one says, “You use a filter at the
sight of a gnat in your drink,” or, “You use a filter to get a gnat out of your drink,” the Greek term is
well-represented. The rendering “strain
out” has the advantage of ensuring that readers do not misinterpret “strain at
a gnat” to refer to the physical effort of choking on a gnat, but this does not
turn “strain at a gnat” into a misprint or a mistranslation.
2 comments:
What kind of work did it take to unearth all these citations?
By the way, I disagree with your translation of Roger Fenton. The whole sentence is "Let vs then leaue to straine at gnattes, and ingenuously acknowledge thus much at the first: that all differences doe not take away the nature of the true Church," which is not a request for permission, but an exhortation: "Let's quit straining at gnats."
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