Luke 4:4 It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone

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Jesus is tempted by the devil asked to turn stones to bread. This is Jesus's response to the first temptation in the desert.

KJV

Luke 4:4 It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

NIV

Luke 4:4 It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone

LISTENERS HEARD

It has been written, "Not upon a loaf alone will this person live."

LOST IN TRANSLATION

All the translations of "it is written" are in the wrong tense. Jesus said, "It has been written."

The Biblical quote in it is an exact quote from the Septuagint, the Greek old Testament (Deu 8:3), while the Hebrew is a little different. This is typical of the kind of evidence that we find that Jesus taught in Greek. See this article

MY TAKE

Bread is not nearly as tasty as ideas.

GREEK ORDER

Γέγραπται                ὅτι     “Οὐκ ἐπ᾽      ἄρτῳ μόνῳ  ζήσεται               ἄνθρωπος.”
It has been written  that,    "Not upon a loaf  alone   will he live,    this person.

 

# KJV TRANSLATION ISSUES
3

It is(WT) written, That (MW) man shall not live by bread alone, [but by every word of God.OS]

  • WT - Wrong Tense - The verb "is" indicates the present tense, but the tense of the verb is the past perfect.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The article "the" before "man" is not shown in the English translation.
  • OS -- Outdated Source -- The Greek words translated as "but by every word of God" existed in the KJV Greek source but not the source we use today.
# NIV TRANSLATION ISSUES
3

It is(WT) written, (MW) (MW) Man shall not live on bread alone

  • WT - Wrong Tense - The verb "is indicates the present tense, but the tense of the verb is the past perfect.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The article "that" before "man" is not shown in the English translation.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The article "the" before "man" is not shown in the English translation.
EACH WORD of KJV

It  -- This is from the third-person, singular form of the verb.

is -- (WT) This helping verb indicates passive form and the present tense of the verb. Though "it is written," is translated in the present tense in the KJV, the Greek is in a tense that indicates an action completed in the past.

written, -- "Written" is the Greek verb that  means "to mark," "to express by written characters," "to write a letter," "to write down [a law]," and so on.

That  - The word translated as "that" introduces a statement of fact or cause. Here it introduces a quote. 

missing "the"  -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article, which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more. 

man -- The word translated as "man" more generally means "humanity" as well as "a man."

shall -- This helping verb "shall" indicates that the verb is the future tense. Helping or auxiliary verbs are needed to translate the Greek verb forms into English.

not -- The Greek word translated as "not" is the Greek negative used to deny objective facts, not opinions. It makes a negative statement of fact. Adding "really" to the sentence captures the same idea.

live -- The verb means "live," "to be alive,” “to be full of life," "to be strong," and "to be fresh." So it is life in the sense of a vital life, strong and growing. Perhaps in English, “thrive” would be more precise. It is in the future tense, which we cannot tell by the “shall live” because the KJV and other Bibles translated both the future tense and the subjective mood in the same way, so “he going to thrive.” But again, the form is the middle voice, so “by himself.” So this verb, with the negatives means “he is not going to thrive by himself.” This is a pretty interesting statement even without the “bread” part. Christ also uses it in the sense of "making a living." There are several other words in the Gospels translated as "life" discussed in this article. The differences are important.- The term translated as "live" is in the future tense. The Greek term means not only to have  life and breath but to the enjoyment of living as well, specifically, to be "full of life."

by -- The word translated as "by" means "on," "over," "upon," "against," "before," "after," "during," "by" or "on." The primary meaning of this word is "upon," which works well for the idea of "living on bread."

bread -- The Greek word for "bread" or more precisely, "loaf," but is was used generically to mean "food." The original Hebrew (Deu 8:3) from which this quote is taken referred to mana in the desert. Moses describes the hunger and suffering of the Jews in the desert and how God sent them mana. The following verse of Deu 8:5 may also be considered a provocative prophecy of Christ's suffering and death.

alone, -- "Alone" is an adjective modifying "bread" that means "alone," "solitary," "only," "single," "unique," "made in one piece," "without [someone]," "only [something]," "unique," "one above all others," and "on one condition only."

, but by every word of God. -- (OS) There is nothing in the Greek that can be translated as "but by every word of God" in the source we use today but it does exist in the source that the KJV translators used.

 

EACH WORD of NIV

It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone

It  -- This is from the third-person, singular form of the verb.

is -- (WT) This helping verb indicates passive form and the present tense of the verb. Though "it is written," is translated in the present tense in the KJV, the Greek is in a tense that indicates an action completed in the past.

written, -- "Written" is the Greek verb that  means "to mark," "to express by written characters," "to write a letter," "to write down [a law]," and so on.

missing "that  "  -- (MW) The untranslated word  "that" introduces a statement of fact or cause. Here it introduces a quote. 

missing "the"  -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article, which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more. 

Man -- The word translated as "man" more generally means "humanity" as well as "a man."

shall -- This helping verb "shall" indicates that the verb is the future tense. Helping or auxiliary verbs are needed to translate the Greek verb forms into English.

not -- The Greek word translated as "not" is the Greek negative used to deny objective facts, not opinions. It makes a negative statement of fact. Adding "really" to the sentence captures the same idea.

live -- The verb means "live," "to be alive,” “to be full of life," "to be strong," and "to be fresh." So it is life in the sense of a vital life, strong and growing. Perhaps in English, “thrive” would be more precise. It is in the future tense, which we cannot tell by the “shall live” because the KJV and other Bibles translated both the future tense and the subjective mood in the same way, so “he going to thrive.” But again, the form is the middle voice, so “by himself.” So this verb, with the negatives means “he is not going to thrive by himself.” This is a pretty interesting statement even without the “bread” part. Christ also uses it in the sense of "making a living." There are several other words in the Gospels translated as "life" discussed in this article. The differences are important.- The term translated as "live" is in the future tense. The Greek term means not only to have  life and breath but to the enjoyment of living as well, specifically, to be "full of life."

on -- The word translated as "on" means "on," "over," "upon," "against," "before," "after," "during," "by" or "on." The primary meaning of this word is "upon," which works well for the idea of "living on bread."

bread -- The Greek word for "bread" or more precisely, "loaf," but is was used generically to mean "food." The original Hebrew (Deu 8:3) from which this quote is taken referred to mana in the desert. Moses describes the hunger and suffering of the Jews in the desert and how God sent them mana. The following verse of Deu 8:5 may also be considered a provocative prophecy of Christ's suffering and death.

alone, -- "Alone" is an adjective modifying "bread" that means "alone," "solitary," "only," "single," "unique," "made in one piece," "without [someone]," "only [something]," "unique," "one above all others," and "on one condition only."

COMPARISON: GREEK to KJV

Γέγραπται [34 verses] (3rd sg perf ind mp ) "It is written" is from grapho, which means "to write", "having marked or drawn", "to describe", "to brand", "to express by written characters", "to ordain", "to enroll oneself", "to be indicted," and "to write down." -- (WT) "Write" is the Greek verb that  means "to mark," "to express by written characters," "to write a letter," "to write down [a law]," and so on. The form is passive participle of an action completed in the past, "having been written." WT - Wrong Tense - The English verb "written" is the present tense, but Greek is in the past perfect, a completed action, "have seen."

 ὅτι [332 verses](adv/conj) "That" is from hoti, which introduces a statement of fact "with regard to the fact that", "seeing that," and acts as a causal adverb meaning "for what", "because", "since," and "wherefore." 

Οὐκ  [269 verses](partic) "Not" is from ou which is the negative adverb for facts and statements, negating both single words and sentences. The other negative adverb, μή applies to will and thought; οὐ denies, μή rejects; οὐ is absolute, μή relative; οὐ objective, μή subjective.

ἐπὶ [138 verses](prep) "On" is from epi which means "on," "upon," "at," "by," "before," "across," and "against." With a noun in the possessive, genitive, it means "upon," "on" but not necessarily of Place, "by (of persons)," "deep (with numbers)," "in the presence of," "towards," "in the time of," and "over (referring to a person of authority)." With a noun indirect object, dative, it means of place: "upon," "on," or "over," of people: "against (in a hostile sense)," regarding a situation: "towards" or "in reference to," of an accumulation: "upon," "after," "addition to," and "besides," of position: "after," "behind," "in dependence upon," and "in the power of," of time: "by," and "after," and. in a causal sense: "of the occasion or cause," "for" a person, an end, or purpose," "on condition that," and "for" (a price). 

ἄρτῳ [32 verses](noun sg masc dat) "Bread" is from artos, which means specifically a "cake of whole wheat bread," and generally "loaf," and "bread."

μόνῳ [4 verses](adj sg neut dat) "Alone" is from monon, which means "alone", "solitary", "only", "one above all others", "made in one piece", "single," and "unique."

ζήσεται. [15 verses] (3rd sg fut ind mid) "Shall live" is from zaô (zao), which means "to live", "the living," and "to be alive." It is a metaphor for "to be full of life", "to be strong," and "to be fresh."

 [821 verses](article sg masc nom)  "The" is the Greek definite article, hos, ("the"). 

ἄνθρωπος.”  [209 verses](noun sg masc nom) "Man" is anthropos, which is "man," and, in plural, "mankind." It also means "humanity" and that which is human and opposed to that which is animal or inanimate.

Wordplay

A direct Greek quote from the Septuagint, not a paraphrase from Hebrew or Aramaic, which is quite different. 

parallel comparison

It is identical to Christ's words in the first part of Matthew 4:4 except for the addition of a "that". The Greek sources we used today only show the first phase of the Matthew version.

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