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Today's Verse Analysis

Mark 13:21 And then if any man shall say to you,

On Mount of Olives, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Jesus when these things will be.

Spoken to:
group

Mark 13:21 Καὶ τότε ἐάν τις ὑμῖν εἴπῃ Ἴδε ὧδε χριστός Ἴδε ἐκεῖ, μὴ πιστεύετε:

KJV Verse:

Mark 13:21 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not:

NIV Verse:

Mark 13:21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.

What His Listeners Heard:

And then when anyone says to you, "Look here, the Anointed! Look there!" Do not trust him!

Lost In Translation:

The term translated as "if" is closer to "when." Jesus said that this was going to happen, and it still does.

The word Greek word "christos" has become a title or a name, so the original Greek words, which mean "the anointed" has not been translated or replaced by the term "Messiah," which is the Hebrew/Aramaic word for "anointed. However, at the time, the people would have heard "anointed," describing the anointing of Jewish kings.

The "or" existed in the KJV source, but not in the modern sources or the Latin Vulgate.

Again, the Greek here is more like a spoken statement than a written sentence.  Listeners would have assumed much of the context but it was not what Jesus said.

Καὶ  τότε ἐάν    τις        ὑμῖν     εἴπῃ  Ἴδε     ὧδε      χριστός    Ἴδε    ἐκεῖ,          μὴ   πιστεύετε:
And then when anyone to you, says "Look here, the Anointed! Look there!" Do not trust him!

My Takeaway:

We can imagine our saviors in the strangest places.

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This site seeks to avoid the competing dogmas that have shaped Biblical translation. The everyday meanings of the Greek words Jesus used were different than the definitions they have been given over time. The research here goes beyond "Biblical Greek" where words are tautologically defined by how the Bible translates them. Instead, it is based upon contemporary documents such as the Greek Septuagint.

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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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