Is "cousin" wrong in the KJB Luke 1:36?

[brandplucked]

Is ?cousin? a wrong translation in the King James Bible?

Luke 1:36, 58 ?cousin(s)? or ?relatives??

I recently received a short letter from another Christian regarding the use of the word ?cousin? in the King James Bible. This brother writes:

?Hello, Mr. Kinney. I hope this e-mail finds you well. First, let me say that I am a KJV only guy. So let me get to my question. In Luke 1:36, the KJ translators used the word "cousin". It is my understanding that the word they translated "cousin" just means "relative". So why did the KJ translators translate it as "cousin" and not "relative"? This seems to have led to some confusion in the geneology of Mary.?

Thank you, and may God Bless, Steve

I enjoy getting questions like this because they always cause me to learn more about God?s precious words as found in the Authorized King James Holy Bible.

King James Bible - Luke 1:36 ?And, behold, THY COUSIN Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.?

There is also another verse this man did not mention where the word ?cousins? appears. It is Luke 1:58. There we read: ?And her neighbours and her COUSINS heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.?

The Greek word used in these two places is sungenees, and it is found 12 times in the New Testament. It is translated in the King James Bible as ?cousin, kinsfolk (Luke 2:44; 21:16), and kinsmen (Luke 14:12)?.

The apparent problem this brother is having is not that the King James Bible (and others as we shall soon see) has ?mistranslated? this word as ?cousin?, but rather in understanding our own English language.

Simply look up the English word ?cousin? in any good, modern dictionary, like Websters, American Heritage or Cambridge International Dictionary and you will find the following definitions of the word.

Merriam Webster Dictionary = Middle English cosin, from Anglo-French cusin, cosin, from Latin consobrinus, from com- + sobrinus second cousin, from soror sister ? 1 a: a child of one's uncle or aunt b: a relative descended from one's grandparent or more remote ancestor by two or more steps and in a different line c: kinsman, relative 2: one associated with or related to another : counterpart 3?used as a title by a sovereign in addressing a nobleman 4: a person of a race or people ethnically or culturally related

Cambridge International Dictionary - 1. a child of a person's aunt or uncle, or, more generally, a distant relative.

American Heritage Dictionary - 1. A child of one's aunt or uncle. Also called first cousin. 2. A relative descended from a common ancestor, such as a grandparent, by two or more steps in a diverging line. 3. A relative by blood or marriage; a kinsman or kinswoman.

So we can see clearly that the King James Bible is NOT in error when it translates this Greek word as both ?cousin? and ?kinsman?, because that is what the the words mean.

Not only does the King James Bible translate Luke 1:36 as ?behold, thy COUSIN Elisabeth? but so also do the following Bible translations: Wycliffe 1395, Tyndale 1525, Coverdale 1535, Bishops? Bible 1568, the Geneva Bible 1587, Mace?s N.T. 1729, John Wesley?s 1755 translation, the Douay-Rheims bible, Webster?s 1833 version, the 1969 New Life Bible, the KJV 21st Century version 1994, and even Eugene Peterson?s 2002 The Message! - ?And did you know that your COUSIN Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is??

The same people who put out the NIV, the International Bible Society, have made a new translation into the Spanish language. It is the 2003 Castilian Spanish New Testament, and it also reads ?cousin = prima - ?Desde hace seis meses, tu PRIMA Elisabet, la que todos ten

[Guest Guest]

Thanks for posting that! :smile

[brandplucked]

You are quite welcome. I enjoyed doing the study. I learned a lot from doing it. God's words are so precious, aren't they.

God bless,

Will K

[Guest Guest]

You are quite welcome. I enjoyed doing the study. I learned a lot from doing it. God's words are so precious, aren't they.

God bless,

Will K

:amen:

[futurehope]

:goodpost:

[kevinmiller]

Personally, in today's society, I think it would be more accurate to translate it as relative since I passed over those verses many times and took them to mean their aunt or uncle's son or daughter.

[John81]

Personally' date=' in today's society, I think it would be more accurate to translate it as relative since I passed over those verses many times and took them to mean their aunt or uncle's son or daughter.[/quote']

Why would you do that?

[kevinmiller]

Why would I take it to mean that?
In modern society, if I say my cousin, you are going to assume it's my aunt or uncle's child. If the Bible says cousin, I wouldn't think twice about whether it might be talking about any kind of familial relation, most other people wouldn't either.

[John81]

I must be missing something because I still don't understand what you are saying. :Green

What would prompt you to think that in the Bible cousin might mean different things?

[kevinmiller]

That was the whole point of the OP. lol That cousin in the KJV may mean simply kinsfolk or a relative.

[John81]

I got the point of the OP. It seemed maybe you had more to add.

Myself, whenever I've read cousin, I think cousin.

[kevinmiller]

Right, I do, too. But, it seems that it doesn't always mean just cousin, in the KJV and some other versions. It can actually mean just a relative and not a literal cousin.

[brandplucked]

The King James Bible is NOT in error when it translates this Greek word as both ?cousin? and ?kinsman?, because that is what the the words mean. Elisabeth may in fact have been Mary's cousin, just as we normally think of the word. Or she may have been a more distant relative. In either case, the English word "cousin" covers and includes all possibilities of this relationship.

Will K