Catastrophic Subtle Sabotage—The Case of Mistranslating Jesus's Words

How many perverse translations of Jesus's words does it take to effectively sabotage the process of following Jesus into eternal life? Are these 16 mistranslations, that are found in nearly all English-language Bible translations, enough to turn off potential believers, and to turn away confessing believers from the narrow gate and hard-pressured way that uniquely* lead into eternal life?

Α. Do evil! It's good to commit theft and lie about it in an embezzlement scheme against one's employer, and lure others to join in these actions… says the Lord!? See Luke 16:9 and a briefish article on how this is horrific mistranslation.**

Β. Accept you’re evil! Having an adulterous heart is the inescapable condition of potentially all of Jesus's followers… says the Lord?! Because the act of looking at anyone with lust is to commit adultery in the heart? See Matthew 5:28, and my brief article showing how it's unnecessary to translate it so.***

Γ. You have to be perfect! A famous Japanese author stopped considering the Lord's message when he came upon this (mistranslated) commandment. See Matthew 5:48. Instead, there is a logical, rational and non-self-contradictory way to translate here: “You will therefore be absolute as the Father of yours, the Heavenly One, is absolute” [or “complete”, in loving both good and evil people].

Δ. Test God! Handling poisonous snakes is a way to test if your faith in Jesus is sufficiently strong—also drinking something deadly… says the Lord?! Laws in American states have arisen to ban such “church” practices. See Mark 16:17-18, and this article.*

Ε. You're disqualified from entering eternal life if you say goodbye to your family after choosing to follow the Lord… says Jesus?! See Luke 9:61-62. A few Bible translations (The Christ Family Bible, The Living Bible and The Message) see a more compassionate and understandable dialogue.**

Ζ. Asking for a sign from God is evil and adulterous… says the Lord Jesus?! See Matthew 12:39. The Ancient Greek gives an alternative reading that doesn't contradict the Lord’s other words*** and is entirely rational: “[An] evil and adulterous lineage seeks further [a] sign…” when 1 or more signs has already been provided.*

Η. Be violent! A popular misreading of Matthew 11:12, "the violent take it [the Kingdom of the Heavens] by force" tragically teaches that Christians need to be violent in some manner… towards Almighty God! But the Ancient Greek and the context point to a totally different reading, namely that the Lord is explaining the imprisonment of the herald of God's kingdom, John the Baptiser: “the Kingdom of the Heavens is constrained, and constrainers plunder it." See more information in my brief article.**

Θ. The Lord never warned about pharmaceuticals!? The New Testament ends with the conspicuous repetition twice of the Lord Jesus's condemnation to Hell of φαρμακοι (pharmakoi). Only 1 Bible translation known to me (The Christ Family Bible) points out that this Ancient Greek word had several senses, e.g. makers of (purported) medicines, poisoners, makers of sorcery. But that is vital information. Pharmaceuticals are well documented to be used for the intentional mass poisoning of the human population, the population of domesticated animals, and the environment. This at least 100-year-old project fulfills the Biblical prophecy that a dark spiritual movement, whose merchants become “the great [ones] of the Earth”, uses pharmakeia to mislead all nations”.***

Ι. The Almighty Creator promises to give enough food everyday (“daily bread”) to all who pray the Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father”)… says the Lord? Actually, the standard Ancient Greek adjectives used to describe “daily” food are not used in the ancient records of the Lord’s Prayer.* Instead, a new and still unique Ancient Greek word is found in the Gospels: (“epi-ousios”), leading to huge debate about what it means. One leading dictionary (Bauer-Danker) finds the best support for translating it as “necessary for existence”. Is it not best to be aware that Jesus may mean we should focus on the bread that gives eternal life (the most important existence by far), because Christians should expect to find themselves lacking the necessary physical food when, due to persecution, they experience at times poverty or imprisonment or periods of urgent travel? Almighty God may also drive us to be fasting, like Jesus did in the desert, for our profit spiritually and sometimes physically or economically. When a Christian lacks enough physical food for the day, it should not be a cause to doubt whether God keeps His promises or hears the prayers of His children.

Κ. The Lord Jesus's Kingdom is not of the world… says the Lord of Heaven and Earth!? (Rather, Jesus should be translated as explaining that his kingdom is not from this world—to be consistent with the facts of Jesus's NT words, of Ancient Greek language, and world history since Jesus's resurrection.**) A preacher this week proclaimed that the adoring and courageous people who brought palms to welcome Jesus to Jerusalem were wrong to do so, because they were promoting the idea that Jesus would be a political ruler of (ancient) Israel.*** But Jesus states he is Lord of Heaven and Earth in the Great Commission he makes at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, which he says explains why he commands his disciples to go and make disciples of all the nations. Likewise Jesus teaches everyone to daily make a pledge of loyalty to the Almighty Father Creator of all things, “Be realised, the will of Yours, as in Heaven [where Satan the Opponent and his angels have been kicked out, so there is no disobedience to the eternal God] also on Earth.” To save souls from going lost in the Lake of Fire, disciples must act against any and all disobedience to the Lord Jesus. Why do Bibles then almost all translate John 18:36 so that people think Jesus isn’t the rightful political ruler of all nations, from the time of his accession, after crucifixion, death and resurrection? Beware of normalising the Apostasy (church disobedience) and End Times nations’ disobedience prophesied by Jesus, 2 Thessalonians and Revelation!

Λ. All Scripture cannot be broken, says the Lord!? Doesn't Jesus “break” the Old Testament scriptures commanding “an eye for an eye” and certain foods not to be eaten, for example? How many problems arise when mistranslating John 10:35 in this manner, “the Scripture cannot be broken” (ESV), because hearers can get the idea that Jesus is saying that whatever is considered to be Scripture must be obeyed. Who decides what is Holy Scripture? Jean Calvin? (“66 Bible Books only!”) Roman Catholic bishops? "(“73!”) Eastern Orthodox bishops? (“77?”) Ethiopian and Eritrean Oriental Orthodox archbishops? (“81!”) Free Protestants? (“Also the Book of Enoch!”) If one translates Jesus consistently here, he means that every thing presented as holy scripture must be scrutinised and if wisdom points against it, it must be “loosed” (losing binding force on people). Surely that is why in his first sermon, Jesus repeatedly warns about certain Old Testament scriptures, “You have heard that it was said to the first ones…”. Whereupon he then loosens those scriptures.* An alternative consistent-with-Jesus's-other-words potential meaning is that Jesus is simply quoting a rule that his attackers believe, thereby exposing their hypocrisy: although they interpret Psalm 82 verse 6 to mean that God says, “You are gods” to the people who received the ancient scriptures (rather than to “the congregation of the mighty… the gods”, verse 1), and they claim that no scripture can be loosed/broken, yet they hypocritically accuse Jesus of blasphemy for saying he is the son of God (John 18:33-36). The fact that Jesus starts with quoting a belief that is quite obviously false (“You are gods… but you shall die like men” is quite certainly not addressed to people but to “the gods” among whom God is judging, as announced in the psalm’s first verse) does not lend much support to the idea that Jesus means that the second belief of his attackers—“the scripture cannot be loosed”—is true.

Μ. Everyone must love their enemies like they love their friends, family and heroes… says the Lord?! Translating with the word love is too vague: the Greek word agapein referred to something other than loving-friendship, familial love, or love of heroes. Loving-kindness or charity matches what the Lord says we must all do for enemies: forgive them, pray for them, bless them, do good for them (embodied in how the Good Samaritan treated an in-urgent-need member of a religious group who hated him). Jesus doesn't say go on holiday with your enemies, trust them, be affectionate toward them, share life with your enemies like with your friends or family. A linguist and political activist/analyst sadly appears to reject Jesus's commandment based on too-vague translation: “On loving one's enemy, I don't see any compulsion to love Hitler, or Stalin, or... contemporary gangsters.”** Why would this linguist speak of compulsion here, rather than for example rationale or reason, except because he thinks Jesus is commanding everyone to have loving feelings for enemies? Why do people fail to see that showing charity and loving-kindness to someone who is hostile can both cool tensions and positively affect that person's beliefs about their enemies (you) and the need for hostilities generally? Why do people ignore Jesus's warning that failure to be charitable / loving-kind to one's enemies can be a cause for loss of one's eternal soul—the obvious implication of the warning: “You will be absolute [in showing charity/loving-kindness to evildoers and good-doers] as your Father in the Heavens is absolute”? (That is to say, the survivors of God's judgement will be only those who do so.) Mistranslations?

Ν. “I come quickly” back, to judge everyone… said the Lord 2000 years ago? This mistranslated promise is repeated 7 times at the end of the Bible, causing consternation and doubt among how many hearers? Problem solved by seeing the wisdom in Jesus warning that he comes and judges all suddenly (the other main sense of ταχυ). Without further warning. Is that not what we have seen since Jesus spoke these things to John? No further warning, before a church failing to do “the first works” loses the Holy Spirit. No further warning for a church to repent from destructive false Christian teaching before Christ starts to war against its purveyors. No further warning to endure in faithfulness, before a final judgement. No further warning is promised for any human soul before they face final judgement, suddenly.

Ξ. The operators of the animal sacrifice system in the Temple were “thieves”—not “vicious ones”, “murderers”, “destroyers”, “spoilers”, “plunderers”… says the Almighty Lord? Credit is due the makers of new documentary Christspiracy for alerting me to this highly suspect way of translating Jesus's words at his Temple protest and intervention. They point out that (a) the Hebrew scripture Jesus quoted is not focused on theft but violence (the word parits); (b) God's compassion for and interventions to protect animals don't end in Genesis 1 (universal commandment to be vegan) but are found repeatedly in utterances via prophets Isaiah (chapter 11), Jeremiah (ch. 7), Amos (ch. 5) and Hosea (ch. 6); (c) the record of Jesus's words about eating fish are fishy, so to speak, consistently bearing conspicuous vegan-signalling inconsistencies.*** The Greek word that translates parits for Jeremiah 7:11 also carried mainly senses of violence moreso than the act of theft: Bauer-Danker translates lestes with robber, highwayman, bandit, revolutionary, insurrectionist, guerrilla.

Ο. “This generation” (alive at the time of the Lord's crucifixion) will… see the Lord return to Earth?… and suffer for all the righteous blood shed on Earth?… says Jesus? But doesn't it make perfect sense to translate genea (γενεα) as “lineage” instead? The spiritual and ideological lineage that kills prophets will pay for that blood. Likewise, the spiritual and intellectual lineage of discipleship to Jesus will survive until the Lord returns and sends angels to gather them up. (See DGE dictionary for the documentary support that genea had inter alia a sense of “lineage”.)

Π. The Almighty Father will rescue us from evil, says rhe Lord? But disciples of Jesus are glorified by being chased, attacked, tortured and murdered. It makes perfect sense to translate rhuomai instead with its primary sense, so that Jesus is commanding all people to ask the Almighty Father to pull us toward Himself, away from evil. (See the verb’s relationship to flowing (rhusis) and to flow (rheo) in the BibleHub.com resources.)

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Notes

* “Go in through the narrow gate, because wide [is] the gate and roomy the way leading away into the destruction and many are the in-goers through it; because narrow [is] the gate and hard-pressured the way leading away into the life and few are the finders of it.” (The Good News According to Matthew 7:13-14)

** My article "Make friends...by unrighteous mammon" in A Guide to Misleading Bible Quotes, https://sites.google.com/view/misleading-bible-quotes/make-friends-by-unrighteous-mammon

*** My article “Already committed adultery" in A Guide to Misleading Bible Quotes, https://sites.google.com/view/misleading-bible-quotes/already-committed-adultery

* “They will handle snakes" in A Guide to Misleading Bible Quotes, https://sites.google.com/view/misleading-bible-quotes/they-will-handle-snakes

** Here is my translation in The Christ Family Bible: Yet also [an]other said, ‘I will follow You, Lord. Yet first permit me to detach* from the [ones] in the household of mine.’

Yet the Yashu‘a said to him, ‘No one thrusting the hand onto [a] plough and looking to the [things] behind is well placed in the kingdom of the God.’”

*The Greek word apotasso had senses of making formal arrangements, not merely "saying goodbye" as many translations read. See 1 Maccabees 4:61, 11:3 and Jeremiah 20:2 in the LXX Septuagint. So rather logically God can be read here to be warning that, like when ploughing a field, one cannot be focused on what’s behind one, the engagements of one's old lifestyle, to be well placed in God's kingdom.

*** The Lord commands his followers to look for signs ahead of catastrophic end times for societies individually and finally the whole world (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). Jesus also promises (in a disputed text) that signs will accompany the people who are faithful to the commandment to go into all Creation and proclaim the good news of salvation (Mark 16).

* The Greek word used here is επιζητεω (epizeteo), which adds the prefix επι- to the commonly used word for the action of searching, ζητεω. The Liddell Scott Jones dictionary duly observes ancient uses of επιζητεω that likely mean “make further search for”, “inquire further”, “search for besides”.

** “The violent take it by force”, https://sites.google.com/view/misleading-bible-quotes/the-violent-take-it-by-force

*** See Revelation 18:23 and exposés of pharmaceuticals in for example documentaries such as “Rockefeller Medicine” (https://www.corbettreport.com/rockefeller-medicine-video/), the documentary “Vaxxed—From Coverup to Catastrophe” (https://thehighwire.com/ark-videos/vaxxed-from-cover-up-to-catastrophe/), the documentary “Vaxxed 2—The People’s Truth” (https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/videos/vaxxed-2/), the documentary “Fluoride on Trial: The Censored Science on Fluoride and Your Health” (https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/events/fluoride-on-trial-the-censored-science-on-fluoride-and-your-health/fluoride-on-trial/), the National Vaccine Information Center (https://www.nvic.org/vaccination-decisions/downloads/video-briefs), journalism by The Defender (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/), books by Robert F. Kennedy Jr like The Wuhan Coverup, Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury―a Known Neurotoxin―from Vaccines, and The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.

*Such as “kath’ hemera” (Matthew 26:55 etc) and “ephemeros” / “eph’ hemeran” (James 2:15). See likewise Woodhouse English-Greek Dictionary, which adds “panemeros” (“coming every day”).

** The preposition under scrutiny here, which Bible versions dreadfully render as “of” in John 18:36, is ἐκ. The Abbott-Smith NT dictionary summarises this preposition’s known senses as only 2, either “from out of” or “from”, and it finds no support whatsoever for "of" in the sense of "consisting of". The Liddell Scott Jones (LSJ) dictionary has, however, a discussion about “ἐκ” referring to what something is made of (headlined “material”), which can confuse if not considered carefully:

“OF ORIGIN, 1) of Material, out of or of which things are made, γίγνεταί τι ἔκ τινος Parm. 8.12 ; ποιέεσθαι ἐκ ξύλων τὰ πλοῖα Hdt. 1.194 ; πίνοντας ἐκ κριθῶν μέθυ A. Supp. 953 ; εἶναι ἐξ ἀδάμαντος Pl. R. 616c ; ἐκ λευκῶ ἐλέφαντος αἰετοί Theoc. 15.123 ; στράτευμα ἀλκιμώτατον ἂν γένοιτο ἐκ παιδικῶν X. Smp. 8.32 ; συνετάττετο ἐκ τῶν ἔτι προσιόντων formed line of battle from the troops as they marched up, Id. An. 1.8.14.”

Does this provide any support for translating “εκ του κοσμου τουτου” as “of the world, this [world]”, with the sense that Jesus’s Kingdom does not include this world? No. The LSJ shows only that ἐκ can be translated with “out of” or “of” in meanings where “from” is just as good: “this chair is made of wood”, “this chair is made from wood.”

See the entire dictionary entries freely here: https://logeion.uchicago.edu/%E1%BC%90%CE%BA

***”Plots, Perfume and Palms”, sermon by Prince Young, 2024-6-30, Lund, Sweden. https://www.youtube.com/live/hlLPOI1NW6Y

*See Matthew chapter 5. My translation is available freely here, http://christfamilybible.free.nf/mt5.html

** Quoting private email correspondence in 2009 between me and the linguist/political activist/analyst.

***See or hear Kam Waters co-director of Christspiracy present this evidence in a recent Ellen Fisher podcast available on video

and audio https://www.ellenfisher.com/podcasts/wasjesusavegan