How different are they - the KJV and the
ESV?
As different as the world is from eternity;
well, quite literally.
Read on and be shocked, if you are capable
of being shocked.
A Brother inquired:
How do [you] understand this verse?
"He has made everything beautiful in
its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot
find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." Ecclesiastes
3:11
******************
I responded:
I read from my Bible to see the
context of the verse and noted some disturbing differences.
[I later checked and found that it is quoted
from ESV. They had the Revised STANDARD version, the New American STANDARD version,
and now the English STANDARD version. Soon they will come up with a Global STANDARD
version to be followed by the Ultimate STANDARD version, and maybe finally the De
Endtime STANDARD version!]
First, I need to figure out how this passage relates
to the subject under consideration. How do you relate this passage to the topic
we are studying. Just trying to understand.
Second, the translation I'm using (ole KJ)
reads quite differently on that verse, QUITE significantly. The 3-verse
paragraph (giving you the immediate context of verse 11 you are inquiring
about) reads thus:
Eccle 3:9-11.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that
wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath
given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 He hath made every thing beautiful in His
time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out
the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
ESV "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."
Note the significant differences:
1. "... everything beautiful in ITS
time..." versus "every thing beautiful in HIS time."
- ITS time,
and HIS time... the exact time approved and appointed by Him is also the time
He makes a thing beautiful. [One pronoun refers back to the things made
beautiful; the other pronoun refers to the LORD God who has made the things
beautiful. A whole world of difference.]
2. "...He has put ETERNITY into man's
heart..." versus "He hath set the WORLD in their heart..." [One
speaks of subliminal spiritual reality, the other of common earthy creation of
God.]
If God has INDEED put eternity into man's
heart (as your translation reads) then WHY can't man find out what God has done
from the beginning to the end? When God has put eternity into a man's heart, he
is made capable of learning and knowing all the things that God has revealed in
His inspired word, revealing plainly what God has done from the beginning to
the end.
-----------
PJ Walters
Another excellent place to show the difference between
these two is 1 Peter 3:21. KJV says that baptism is the answer of a good
conscience toward God; ESV says that baptism is an appeal to God for a good
conscience. One says it's an answer; the other says it's an appeal.
1Pe
3:21 KJV
The
like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away
of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
