John 8:6 “as though he heard them not.”
Some have questioned the validity of these words because they are found in italics in the King James Bible since Blayney did his “revision” in 1769. Are thy inspired Scripture or not?
The simple answer is Yes. The King James Bible believer holds that even the italicized words are inspired Scripture. They are the words that God wanted to be in the English text of the King James Bible. See my article called "If the King James Bible is the inspired words of God, then what about the italics?"
In fact, in this instance there is plenty of Greek manuscript evidence for the inclusion of the the words “as though he heard them not” AND in the original printings of the King James Bible from 1611 till Mr. Blayney did his “revision” work of updating some of the spelling (which is just fine) and his taking certain words that previously were not in italics and placing them in italics (which is NOT just fine).
Note: Some Bible believers have postulated that the reason Mr. Blayney may have placed some few readings into italics is not because they were not inspired Scripture that belong in the Bible, but because they were readings that were not widely found in the previous English translations. This may be the case.
The original King James Bible read this way in John 8:6 - “This they said, tempting him, that they might haue to accuse him. But Iesus stouped downe, and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not.”
The way it looks since the Blayney update in 1769 is this - “This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. “
The words “as though he heard them not”(μὴ προσποιούμενος = mee prospoioumenos) are found in the Greek texts of E, G, H, K2, 18, 27, 35, 475, 532, 579, 682 (1194 omit me) 1212, 1505, 1519. It is also the reading of the Byzantine texts, and are in the Greek New Testament Texts of the Complutensian Polyglot 1514, Erasmus, Stephanus (first two editions), and Scrivener 1894, which is put out by the Trinitarian Bible Society.
The Textus Receptus of Scrivener 1894 reads this way: "ο δε ιησους κατω κυψας τω δακτυλω εγραφεν εις την γην μη προσποιουμενος".
It is also the reading found in the Greek Byzantine Majority Text of 2005 - "Tοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγον πειράζοντες αὐτόν, ἵνα ἔχωσιν κατηγορεῖν αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς κάτω κύψας, τῷ δακτύλῳ ἔγραφεν εἰς τὴν γῆν, μὴ προσποιούμενος."
τουτο δε ελεγον πειραζοντες αυτον ινα εχωσιν κατηγορειν αυτου ο δε ιησους κατω κυψας τω δακτυλω εγραφεν εις την γην μη προσποιουμενος
John Gill notes that this reading is "in five of Beza's copies, and in the Complutensian edition." and "O Biblios The Book," by Allan O'Reilly also mentions that this reading was found in the first two Greek editions of Stephanus. Scrivener himself notes on page 245 of his book The Authorized Edition of the English Bible 1611 that the reading μη προσποιουμενος is found in the Complutensian and in Stephen's Greek texts of 1546 and 1549. He also says it was not italicized until 1769, which was when Blayney did his work on the King James Bible.
It is of interest that the Wikipedia article on the King James Version mentions the changes Blayney made to update the spelling and punctuation, and add what may well be the reason for him putting certain words in italics. "Unfortunately, Blayney assumed that the translators of the 1611 New Testament had worked from the 1550 Stephanus edition of the Textus Receptus, rather than from the later editions of Beza."
You can see the English translation of this text here: “But Jesus, stooping down, began to write on the ground with His finger, not taking notice.”
The previous “Majority Text” by Zane Hodges and Arthur Farstad does not include the words “as though he heard them not” in their text, but in the footnote they point out that they had divided the “Majority text” into 7 sections, and that this reading is found in part of 2 of these groups and in 2 of the other groups.
They are also found in The Bill Bible 1671, The Revised Translation 1815, Webster’s 1833 translation, The Hammond N.T. 1845, Hussey N.T. 1845, Morgan N.T. 1848, The Revised New Testament 1862, The Dillard N.T. 1885, The Clarke N.T. 1913, the NKJV 1982, J.P. Green’s KJV III Version 1993, The Word of Yah 1993, Green’s ‘literal’ 2000, the World English Bible,The Evidence Bible 2003 Ray Comfort, the Analytical-Literal Translation 2005 Gary Zeolla - “But Jesus, having stooped down, began writing into the ground with His finger, not taking notice.”, the Heritage Bible 2003 - “And Jesus bending down, wrote with his finger into the earth, not acknowledging them.”, the 2006 A Voice in The Wilderness, The Holy Scriptures Paul Becker - “wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear”., The Word of Yah version 1993, the 2012 Lexham English Bible - "But Jesus, bending down, began to write with his finger on the ground, taking no notice.", the 1994 King James 21st Century Version - "with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not.", The Scriptures 1998 by the Institute for Scripture Research (Koster Scriptures) - "But יהושע, bending down, wrote on the ground with the finger, as though He did not hear." and the 1998 Third Millennium Bible - “as though He heard them not.”, The Pickering New Testament 2005 - "taking no notice.", The Resurrection Life New Testament 2005 - "as though he hadn't heard them.", The Hebraic Transliteration Scriptures 2010 - "as though he did not hear.", The Holy Scriptures VW Edition 2010, the Bond Slave Version 2012, The Hebraic Roots Bible 2012 - "not appearing to hear.", the Lexham English Bible 2012 - "taking no notice.", The English Majority Text New Testament 2013 - "NOT TAKING NOTICE.", The Modern English Version 2014 - "as though he did not hear them.", and The Modern Literal New Testament 2014 - “But Jesus stooped downward and with his finger wrote in the soil AND MADE LIKE NOTHING WAS HAPPENING.”
Foreign Language Bibles
Foreign language Bibles that contain this phrase are the Italian New Diodati 1991 - “Ma Gesú, fingendo di non sentire, chinatosi. scriveva col dito in terra.” the Spanish Cripriano de Valera of 1602, the Reina Valera Gómez 2004-2010 editions - “Mas esto decían tentándole, para poder acusarle. Pero Jesús, inclinado hacia el suelo, escribía en tierra con el dedo, como si no les oyera.”, the Santa Biblia Valera Purificada of 2007 - “escribía en la tierra con el dedo, como si no los oyera.”, the Bíblia King James Atualizada Português - "Jesus, inclinando-se, escrevia na terra com o dedo, como se não tivesse ouvido.", the Russian Victor Zhuromsky New Testament, and it is in the Modern Hebrew Bible - "ואך לנסות אתו דברו זאת למצא עליו שטנה ויכף ישוע למטה ויתו באצבעו על הקרקע׃"
The 1999 Analytical Literal Translation by Gary Zeollo reads: "began writing into the ground with His finger, NOT TAKING NOTICE."
J.P. Green's Literal Translation 2005 has it, saying - "But bending down, Jesus wrote with the finger in the earth, NOT APPEARING TO HEAR."
A Conservative Version of 2005 contains the reading but did a poor job of translation, saying - "But Jesus having stooped down, wrote on the ground with his finger, NOT PRETENDING."
The Interlinear Greek of this version show they were following this Greek text - μη προσποιουμενος
The King James Bible is always right.
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