Can a Holy Bible do without the 'thees' and 'thous', 'est' and 'eth'?
Some time ago, I did an article on my own facebook page to address the following question: Can a Holy Bible do without the 'thees' and 'thous', 'est' and 'eth'?
#### Biblical English (thee, thou, thine, ye, -est, -eth, etc) ####
The 39 books of the Old Testament are mostly given to us in Biblical Hebrew, but some parts of the Book of Daniel and the Book of Ezra are given to us in Biblical Aramaic. The 27 books of the New Testament are given to us in Koine Greek. Today, the Bible is translated for us into different languages. In the English language, the pure word of God can be found in the King James Bible, which is given to us in Biblical English (not modern English). Modern English is incapable of supporting the translation of the Holy Bible. For example, modern English is incapable of differentiating between the singular 'you' and the plural 'you'. Biblical English makes the distinction by using 'thee', 'thou', 'thy' or 'thine' to refer to the singular 'you' or 'your'. The plural form of 'you' or 'your' is 'you', 'your' or 'ye'. Consider the following example:
John 3:7 KJV "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."
Here, Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus alone (singular): "Marvel not that I said unto THEE (singular)". But then, Jesus continued "YE (plural) must be born again". In this, Jesus did not tell Nicodemus directly that he must be born again. Rather, he was addressing to the whole world through Nicodemus that "YE must be born again". Every modern bible version has failed to capture this aspect, for example:
NKJV: Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
NASB: Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.
NIV: You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
ESV: Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
None of the modern bible versions including the NKJV is able to accurately capture the distinction. The suitability of the language is a very important aspect of translation because God's words cannot contain any errors. In the English language, only Biblical English can support the translation.
#### Biblical English (thou art, ye are) ####
Psalms 90:2 KJV "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."
Psalms 90:2 NKJV "Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."
God is a singular God, not a plural one. Modern English makes no distinction between the singular pronouns and plural pronouns of 'you'. The King James Bible (Biblical English), however, is careful about the differences. For example:
It is 'thou art' (not 'you are') when 'you' is the singular second personal pronoun as the subject, 'art' being the singular for 'are' e.g. "thou art God alone".
It is 'ye are' (not 'you are') when 'you' is the plural second personal pronoun as the subject, 'are' being the plural for 'art' e.g. "Ye are the children of the LORD your God".
In the same way,
it is 'thou hast', 'thou mightest', 'thou shalt'
it is 'ye have', 'ye might', 'ye shall'
just to quote a few other examples.
#### Biblical English (-est, -eth) ####
Used in verbs (action words) such as 'do', 'believe', 'work', 'die', 'please', 'judge', 'smite', 'pray', 'despise', 'love', 'send', 'make', 'put', etc.
The '-est' and the '-eth' are used to denote actions at the singular personal level in present tense. They are useful in differentiating certain singular verbs from plural nouns. For example, in modern English, the plural for 'work' (noun) is 'works', but 'works' is also a singular verb. So to make the distinction, Biblical English renders the singular verb as 'workest' (use with 2nd personal pronoun) or 'worketh' (use with 3rd personal pronoun).
'-est' (use with 2nd personal pronoun)
Used in conjunction with singular second personal pronoun as the subject. For example: "thou prayest", "doest thou", "believest thou", "thou lovest", "thou hatest", "thou judgest", "why smitest thou me", "thou condemnest thyself", "Or despisest thou", "Thou that makest thy boast", "thou puttest thy nest in a rock", etc.
'-eth' (use with 3rd personal pronoun)
Used in conjunction with singular third personal pronoun as the subject. For example: "he that believeth", "whosoever believeth in him", "He that doeth these things", "he judgeth those", "my soul hateth", "thy servant prayeth", "whoso pleaseth God", "He that worketh deceit", "their worm dieth not", "God putteth in my mouth", etc.
Is this all that important? Consider the following examples:
1 Corinthians 16:10 KJV "... for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do."
The word 'worketh' is a singular verb used with 3rd personal pronoun 'he'; 'work' is a singular noun.
NKJV: "for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do"
NASB: "for he is doing the Lord’s work, as I also am"
NIV: "for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am"
ESV: "for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am"
Notice that modern bible versions replace the singular verb "worketh" with other words that are not word-for-word the same as that in the Greek manuscript "ergazomai" which is literally translated as "work" (verb) i.e. they are not faithfully translated across.
The words "do", or "does", or "carrying on", or "doing" are different from the word "work" (verb) in that these are just general terms to describe a person doing something, and not necessarily working a work with a purpose in mind.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:"
The keyword here is "purpose" which is used to describe the intention of a work with an end in view.
Ecclesiastes 12:14 "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."
It is the work that God is going to judge. It is the intention behind the work (every secret thing) that God is going to judge, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Moreover, modern bible versions are also confusing between themselves in that the words "do", or "does", or "carrying on", or "doing" are not exactly synonymous.
Proverbs 11:18 KJV "The wicked worketh a deceitful work"
The word 'worketh' is a singular verb used with 3rd personal pronoun 'the wicked'; 'work' is a singular noun.
NKJV: "The wicked man does deceptive work"
NASB: "The wicked earns deceptive wages"
NIV: "A wicked person earns deceptive wages"
ESV: "The wicked earns deceptive wages"
The same explanation above applies to this example. Notice the NKJV replaces "worketh" with "does" which reduces from the original meaning of the word in that "does" is just a general term to describe a person doing something, and not necessarily working a work with a purpose in mind. Other modern bible versions (NASB, NIV, ESV) have changed this verse completely having substituted the word "worketh" with "earns" and "deceitful work" with "deceptive wages".