Exodus 22:28 in the King James Version states we are not to revile the gods. Some explain it meaning governors while some translations state “do not revile God.” What is the true history of this verse?<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
The word in question is\u00a0elohim<\/em> in the Hebrew. This word is typically translated “God,” but depending on the context it can also be translated “gods” (Genesis 31:30) and sometimes “rulers or judges” (Psalms 82:1). It is the context that determines which is intended.<\/p>\n The translators of the King James Version apparently were swayed by the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament to see Exodus 22:28 as a reference similar to Psalms 82:1. Their idea was that you do not curse those who represent God (rulers or judges ) nor the more ordinary government officials. The problem is that there is nothing in the context to support this.<\/p>\n The more common way to look at Exodus 22:28 is that you don’t curse God, who is the source of all authority, nor do you curse rulers because they derive their authority from God (Romans 13:1-2). I believe this view is more accurate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Exodus 22:28 in the King James Version states we are not to revile the gods. Some explain it meaning governors while some translations state “do not revile God.” What is the true history of this verse? Thank you. Answer: The word in question is\u00a0elohim in the Hebrew. This word is typically translated “God,” but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[313,311],"class_list":["post-24911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-king-james-version","tag-translations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10281,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/just-justices\/","url_meta":{"origin":24911,"position":0},"title":"Just Justices","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 10:22-38 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many times Jesus faced a mob set to stone him for his words. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In our reading, the thing which upset them was Jesus\u2019 claim to be the Son of God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They understood that this was not a light claim, but one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69253,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-the-bible-talk-of-other-gods\/","url_meta":{"origin":24911,"position":1},"title":"Why does the Bible talk of other gods?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening! I have been wondering about certain things in the Bible, specifically the \"Divine Council.\" There are many different verses I can use, but I want to focus on three: The first being Psalm 82:1: \"God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50854,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-the-differences-between-the-three-names-of-god-in-psalms-1361-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":24911,"position":2},"title":"What are the differences between the three names of God in Psalms 136:1-3?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What are the differences between the three names of God in Psalms 136:1-3? Answer: \"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For His\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16472,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-heavy-use-of-the-phrase-and-it-came-to-pass-a-point-against-the-book-of-mormon\/","url_meta":{"origin":24911,"position":3},"title":"Is the heavy use of the phrase “and it came to pass” a point against the Book of Mormon?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read the claim recently that all of the \"And it came to pass\" phrases in the Book of Mormon are a non-issue because the Greek rendering of that phrase appears with as much frequency in the original Biblical record, and the editors of the King James version chose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56485,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-forbid\/","url_meta":{"origin":24911,"position":4},"title":"God Forbid!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Benjamin M. Shropshire via Lifeline, 7\/15\/00 My use of the New King James Version in my preaching and teaching was criticized a few years ago on the basis that the phrase \"Certainly not!\" is used in place of \"God Forbid!\" in the old King James Version (see Romans 3:4,6,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8899,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-there-a-in-exodus-3232\/","url_meta":{"origin":24911,"position":5},"title":"Why is there a “-;” in Exodus 32:32?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: First, this is a wonderful website, I have really enjoyed the information I have read and look forward to reading more. My question: What is the meaning of the dash and semicolon in Exodus 32:32? I heard it preached once as \u201cthe word Moses could not say\" with a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}