The Modern English Version

The Modern English Version (MEV) is a great disappointment. They claim on their website that it has been translated by 47 men "produced in the King James tradition". I will show you how this is a fabrication. The 47 number is used because some old figures thrown about concerning the King James Version's history has 47 as the official number of translators; more recent figures are somewhere between 57 - 60. The '47 translators' sales pitch is merely to create a nostalgic association with the KJV so that people would assume that it went through the same cross checking filtration processes the 1611 did, which was at least 14 times according to Bancroft's translation rules. I doubt it even went through two cross checks in this verse below...

In Isaiah 58:8 they change the KJV's "rereward (pronounced rear-ward)," which is often modernized as "rear guard," into "reward," revealing that the MEV's 47 translators totally misunderstood the correct meaning of the archaic rereward, and also that they really didn't do real checks and balances like the men in 1611.

It is clearly an error and reveals their incompetence. It appears that they just saw the KJV's rereward and assumed it was reward not even checking the NKJV. It also reveals that they didn't go into the Hebrew at all.

Think about it. Did all 47 get it wrong here? Did they even read the final draft?

With all the glowing endorsements by religious leaders across the globe, this version demonstrates the lack of decent scholarship within popular Christianity. It is far worse than the NKJV in many places.

There are many hundreds of errors in the MEV of which I will continue to document here, but lets look at just one more verse:

Hebrews 3:16

For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. KJV

for who were they who heard and rebelled? Was it not all of those who came out of Egypt, led by MEV Moses?

The MEV changes the wording of the KJV from a statement to a question. They changed the KJV and made an untruth, because we know from the Old Testament that Joshua and Caleb didn't rebel and came out with Moses. The KJV clearly says that "some" i.e. most of the older generation of Israel, "howbeit not all" meaning Joshua and Caleb, "did provoke." The MEV says that everyone who came out of Egypt rebelled. This is clearly mistranslated and ruins the basic Old Testament historical narrative. This error is also in the NKJV.

These two examples alone reveal the MEV is just another modern trash version designed to fill the shelves of bookshops and the pockets of publishers. But what do we expect? The ecumenical Committee on Bible Translation (Committee) is composed of 47 American and English scholars from the three major branches of Christendom: Orthodox, Protestant, and Roman Catholic. hmmm

Compare the King James Version 2016 Edition at Hebrews 3:16 below (also here)

For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.(KJV)
Because some, having heard, did provoke. However not all who came out of Egypt by Moses. (KJV 2016)

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Welcome to Textus Receptus

Welcome to Textus Receptus

Textus Receptus is a Christian apologetics organisation, based in Byron Bay, Australia. I am Nick Sayers, director of Textus Receptus PTY LTD, and run the website Textus Receptus. I am currently living in Pakistan working on an Urdu bible translation from the Textus Receptus. I am the primary translator of the King James Version 2016 Edition New Testament and am presently working on the Old Testament. In this blog I will examine various topics in the field of apologetics particularly biblical textual criticism, translations, manuscripts, preservation, inspiration, history, insights, and also errors in the critical text. 

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