Matthew 27:27 “the common hall”, Praetorium, “the palace” or “the hall of judgment” ?
Matthew 27:27 “the common hall”, Praetorium, “the palace” or “the hall of judgment” - Another Bible Critic Bites the Dust
A Bible believing friend of mine named Robert hears from Bible correctors all the time and he writes me about some of the questions that come up.
On this occasion he writes: “Hello brother Will Kinney I have met one critic who claims that all Bibles have errors. He gave me this example to show that the KJV is not more credible than other Bibles:
Matthew 27: 27 (KJV) - “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into THE COMMON HALL, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.”
The Bible critic goes on to say: “The Greek word that has been translated above as “common hall” should be translated as “praetorium”, which was the official residence of a Roman governor. Every other major translation uses “praetorium”. KJV has deceptively mistranslated to try and hide the error that there was no praetorium in Jerusalem. Everyone agrees that the official residence of Pilate was in Caesarea and no known author outside of the Christian Bible, such as Josephus or Philo, ever refers to a praetorium in Jerusalem for this time period.”
Hi brother, well, this Bible critic can sure sound convincing by giving some kind of “history lesson” he picked up some where, but the man is obviously at odds against even the Greek Lexicons when it comes to the meaning of the word used here and translated as “THE COMMON HALL”.
He is also wrong about how “Every other major translation uses “praetorium.”
The particular Greek word used here is praitorion - πραιτωριον, but most people have no idea what this is.
The King James Bible is its own dictionary. The word πραιτωριον is found 8 times in the Greek texts that underlie the King James Bible, and it translates it variously as “the common hall” 1 time, “Praetorium” 1 time, “the judgment hall” 5 times, and “the palace.” 1 time.
Five of the instances of this word are found in the gospel accounts where the trial of Jesus occurred, and it is called “the common hall”, “the hall of judgment” and “the Praetorium”.
The other two relate to the apostle Paul. In Acts 23 Paul is held prisoner in Caesarea “to be kept in Herod’s JUDGMENT HALL.” And in Philippians 1:13 while in prison, Paul writes: “So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all THE PALACE, and in all other places.”
We see it defined for us in Mark 15:15-16 where we read: “And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
16. And the soldiers led him away INTO THE HALL, CALLED PRAETORIUM; and they call together the whole band.”
The Greek Lexicons
Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1886 page 534 tells us that the Greek word πραιτωριον (praitorion) means. 1. “head quarters” in a Roman camp, the tent of the commander in chief.
2. The palace in which the governor or procurator resided, to which use the Romans were accustomed to appropriate the palaces already existing, and formerly dwelt in by the kings or princes.
At JERUSALEM it was that magnificent palace which Herod the Great had built for himself, and which the Roman procurators seem to have occupied whenever they came from Caesarea to Jerusalem to transact public business. Matthew 27:27; Mark 15:16; John 18:28, 33; John 19:9.
(Note - This alone squashes our Bible critics comments about “history proving there was no Praetorium at Jerusalem”)
The Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1957 page 704 likewise tells us of the Greek word πραιτωριον (praitorion) - “In the course of its history the word also came to designate the governor’s official residence. This is the meaning of the word in the gospels Matthew 27:27; Mark 15:16, John 18:28, 33; 19:9. In Caesarea, at any rate, the Palace of Herod served as the “praetorium”.
Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon, 17th edition, 1887, page 582 informs us that the Greek word πραιτωριον (praitorion) means: “the tent or hall of the praetor, A JUDGEMENT HALL; the PALACE of the chief magistrate.”
Even the New American Bible 2010 tells us in a footnote that the praetorium was “the residence of the Roman governor WHEN HE WENT TO JERUSALEM during the great feasts, when the influx of pilgrims posed the danger of a nationalistic riot.” and that “it could have been the old palace of Herod in the west of the city.”
The NIV Complete Concordance 1982 edition shows that they have translated this single word as “palace” 4 times, Praetorium 2 times, palace guard 1 time and “palace of the governor” 1 time.
Not only does the King James Bible translate this word in Matthew 27:27 and other places as “the common hall”, the hall of judgment” and “the palace” but so too do the following Bible translations - Wycliffe 1395, Tyndale 1534 - “the common hall”, Coverdale 1535, The Great Bible 1540, Matthew’s Bible 1549, the Bishop’s Bible 1568 “the common hall”, the Geneva Bible 1587 - “the common hall”, Mace N.T. 1729, Whiston’s N.T. 1745, Wesley’s N.T. 1755 - “the common hall”, Worsley Version 1770, Webster’s Bible 1833, Rotherham’s Emphasized bible 1902 - “the common hall”, Godbey N.T. 1902 - “the judgment hall”, The Word of Yah 1993 - “the COMMON HALL”, the KJV 21st Century Version 1994, God’s First Truth 1999 - “the common hall”, The Thomson New Testament 2002 - “THE COMMON HALL”, The Evidence Bible 2003, the Bond Slave Version 2009 - “the common hall”, the Hebraic Transliteration Scripture 2010 - “the common hall”, the Jubilee Bible 2010 - THE COMMON HALL”, the BRG Bible 2012 - “the common hall”,
Other variations on Matthew 27:27 are:
Goodspeed 1923 “the barracks”, “the governor’s house”, Noyes Translation 1869, Easy to Read Version 2001 both have “the governor’s palace”, Revised Version - “the palace”, The Twentieth Century N.T. 1902 - “the Government House”, Bible in Basic English - “the open square”, New Life Version 1969 - “a large room”, Living Bible 1971 - “the armory”, Amplified Bible 1987 - “the palace”, The Scriptures 1998 - “the court”, Christian Community Bible 2002 - “the palace of the governor”, the Holman Christian Standard 2009, New Living Translation 1996, both have - “the headquarters”, Worldwide English N.T. 1998 - “to a room”, Far Above All Translation 2011 and Dan Wallace’s NET version 2006 both say - “the governor’s residence”, NRSV 1989 and the ESV 2011 - “the governor’s headquarters”, A Translation for Translators 2011 - “the government headquarters”, The Complete Jewish Bible 1998 - “the headquarters building”, The Work of God’s Children Illustrated Bible 2011 - “ THE HALL”, The Common English Bible 2011 - “the governor’s house”, Names of God bible 2011 - “the palace”, the Lexham English Bible 2012 - “the governor’s residence”, The Voice - “a great hall”, the New Living Translation 2013 - “their headquarters”, the International Standard Version 2014 - “the imperial headquarters”
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the King James Bible referring to the place where the visiting governor resided while at Jerusalem and where legal affairs were attended to as “the common hall”, the “hall of judgment”, “the Pretorium” and “the palace”, simply because THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS!
Bible Agnostics and self appointed Bible correctors just can’t stand the fact that God has given us a complete and inerrant Bible in the King James Holy Bible. Their pride just won’t let them submit to it.
All of grace, believing The Book - the King James Holy Bible.
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In1 Cor 3:17 the King James Version reads “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” But the Textus Receptus reads ei [if] tiV [anyone] ton [the] naon [temple] tou [the] Qeou [of God] fqeirei [corrupt], fqerei [corrupt] touton [him] o [the] QeoV [God] o [the] gar [for] naoV [temple] tou [the] Qeou [God] agioV [holy] estin [is], oitineV [which] este [are] umeiV [you]. So in the first occurrence of the Greek word fqeirei [corrupt] in this verse, the King James Version correctly translates it as “defile.” But to render this word as “destroy,” as the King James Version did in the second case, changes the sense of the Textus Receptus.
In Luke 18:12 the King James Version reads “I give tithes of all that I possess.”But the Textus receptus reads apodekatw [I tithe] panta [all] osa [as much as] ktwmai [I gain].
In 1 John 2:23 the KJV reads “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (But) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” The italicized words are not in the Textus Receptus.
In Luke 17:36 the King James Version reads “Two men shall be in the field; and one shall be taken, the other left,” This entire verse was not in the edition of the Textus Receptus used by the translators of the1611 King James Version. The translators themselves recognized this with a marginal note in the 1611 edition reading “This 36. verse is wanting in most of the Greek copies.” This verse was not added to the Textus Receptus until the edition published by the Elzevir brothers in 1624, thirteen years after the King James Version was published.
In 1 Kings 20:38 The King James Version reads “So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.” But in the place where the King James Version reads “ashes upon his face” the Masoretic text reads “bandage over his eyes.”
“God of forces”
In the place where we find this word in the King James Version, the Masoretic text reads “God of fortresses. ”
This was done in Daniel 11:38
In every place where we find this name in the King James Version, the Textus Receptus clearly says “Artemis.” Names are transliterated, not translated. There is no excuse for changing “Artemis” to “Diana.”
This was done five times in:
Acts 19:24, 27, 28, 34, 35
In Proverbs 18:24 the King James Version reads “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly.” But the Masoretic text reads “may come to ruin” in the place where the king James Version reads “must show himself friendly.”
“The profession of our faith”
In the place where we find this word in the King James Version, The Textus Receptus says “the profession of out hope.”
This was done in Hebrews 10:23
The following list gives the King James wording first, followed by the variation from either Erasmus (E) or Stephen's (S).
Matthew 24:3 saying, tell us/ KJ
saying, tell you/ (E)
24:6 for all these things/ KJ*
for all things/ (S)
24:27 so shall be also/ KJ
so shall be/ (E)
24:45 whom his lord hath made/ KJ
whom the lord hath made (E)
Most of these changes are not supported by ANY KNOWN ancient text. Do I allege that any of them are significant, or life changing? No. Do I allege that all of them are real and unquestionable errors? Yes.
The truth is, that no human effort is EVER flawless, and EVERY translation of the Bible is a human effort.