Thoroughly or Throughly
Updated: Feb 14, 2020
And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly, Gen. 11:3. Did they burn the bricks thoroughly, or did they burn them throughly? Many King James Bibles sloppily interchange those two words. For the record, if they had thoroughly burned the bricks they would not have had any bricks left. Instead what they desired was a brick that had been evenly heated throughout the entire brick. A brick that has been improperly heated in a kiln would be unsuitable for building. It would easily crumble because parts of it would be still soft whereas other parts of it would have been properly hardened in the kiln.
The King James Bible is a marvel of exact language. Our brother Paul Scott has been demonstrating that with his posts. I have chosen these two words to demonstrate that the King James Bible that you purchased might be compromised with bad editing. Why should we care about such a minor change? For one thing nobody should want a bible with errors. The people on the Plains of Shinar did not thoroughly burn their bricks, but the interchanging of those words leads to greater error elsewhere.
The example that I use most to illustrate that is II Timothy 3:17, That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Does study of the word of God make a man thoroughly furnished to all good works? Is his furnishing so thorough that he is capable of any good work ? Could he be a midwife? Could he be a financial auditor and properly audit large mission boards? Could he be a body guard for a missionary in a troubled area? If you have a bible that says he is thoroughly furnished (and some of you do) then your bible says that his furnishing is all inclusive.
No, instead he is throughly furnished just like the King James translators said. That means that throughout his life his furnishing is such that whether he trained to become a midwife, an accountant or a body guard, he would do it in such a way as to reflect his study in the word of God. The word of God did not train him for those jobs. It provided him with the personal character so that whatever he sought to do, it would be done in a godly fashion. Because he has studied to show himself approved unto God, throughout every aspect of his life, he is furnished to do it well.
One of the purposes of this blog is to show the reader how harmful it is to have King James Bible that has been edited either in error or on purpose to change anything. Hopefully this little lesson will help.