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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 12:5 Or have you not read in the law,

Pharisees attack, violating the Sabbath

Spoken to
The Pharisees

Matthew 12:5 ἢ οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε ἐν τῷ νόμῳ ὅτι τοῖς σάββασιν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τὸ σάββατον βεβηλοῦσιν καὶ ἀναίτιοί εἰσιν;

 

KJV Verse

Matthew 12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

 

NIV Verse:

Matthew 12:5 And haven’t you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath?

What His Listeners Heard:

Or don't you recognized it in the Law? Because on these Sabbaths,  the priest in the temple the Sabbath violate the Sabbath file  and they are guiltless?

Lost In Translation:

Jesus often reverses this order to put his punch lines at the end of the verse. These words are often uncommon words for him, increasing the surprise. He also uses the word order to build up drama and tension to make his points. The result can usually be translated more or less directly into English. Here, both the "profane" and the "blameless" are unusual words.

There was apparently something the NIV translators didn't like about the Greek here. Their version changes the beginning "or" here to "and." They also eliminate the uncommon words translating in KJV as "profane" and "blameless" without replacing them. They add and subtract more words than they translate.  How are English readers suppose to connect the two versions or know what Jesus said? 

KJV w/Translation Issues :

 Or have(WT) ye not read(WW) in the law, how that(CW) on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

 

KJV List (See full page for word-by-word analysis):
For analysis of each word of original Greek and biblical verses, click here.

Constantly Updated

My analysis standards and methods are constantly improving. New information on each verse is provided as articles are updated. It requires approximately two years for me to work through updating each of Jesus's verses.

What Jesus's Listeners Heard

The everyday meanings of the Greek words Jesus used were different than the definitions they have been given over time in biblical translation. The word translations here are based upon documents of his time such as the Greek Septuagint, not ideas unknown in his time.

About this Site

See what Jesus said in Greek and see how his words are changed in English translation. My goal is to translate Jesus's words as they were heard when he taught, not the way they are interpreted today. The work here resurrects the humor and cleverness of Jesus's words lost in translation.

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Each article provides detailed information on all the Greek words in each verse with links simplifying your own research. It compares the Greek to popular translations to show where words are confused, changed, left out, and added. This site offers research available nowhere else, such as how often Jesus uses a specific Greek word and links to a list of every verse in which he uses a given word.