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.

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).

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”(mee prospoioumenos) are found in the Greek texts of E, G, H, K, 2, 18, 27, 35, 475, 579, (1194 omit me) 1212, 1505, 1519.  It is also the reading of the  Byzantine texts, and  are  in the Greek New Testament Texts of both Beza and Elziever as well as that of Scrivenir, which is put out by the Trinitarian Bible Society.

It is also the reading found in the recently published 2000 Byzantine/Majority text - “egraphen eis teen geen mee prospoioumenos”

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.”

http://www.majoritytext.com/john.htm

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 foonote 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 Webster’s 1833 translation, the NKJV 1982, J.P. Green’s KJV III Version 1993, Green’s ‘literal’ 2000, the World English Bible,  the Italian New Diodati 1991 - “Ma Gesú, fingendo di non sentire, chinatosi. scriveva col dito in terra.” the Reina Valera Gómez 2004 edition - “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 1602 Purificada of 2007 - “escribía en la tierra con el dedo, como si no los oyera.”, the Russian Victor Zhuromsky New Testament, 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, and the 1998 Third Millenium Bible - “as though He heard them not.”

The King James Bible is always right.

Will Kinney

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