Betimes
- Dr. John M. Asquith
- May 25, 2023
- 2 min read
Pastor Kevin Sheridan who pastors in Antlers, Oklahoma sent me this. It is worthy to be published.
I was writing a sermon for tonight’s Thursday service, and I came upon this ancient word: Betimes
ARCHAIC: Betimes
before the usual or expected time; early.
"next morning I was up betimes"
And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace, Genesis 26:31.
A dispute with Abimelech’s servants get up very early, in order to show the seriousness of their desire for peace with Isaac.
Apparently, in the ancient world to show seriousness in making a covenant or a pact, you often time would get up very early or Betimes, that is to say, before you normally would get up
If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty, Job 8:5.
New international version:
But if you will seek God earnestly and plead with the Almighty.
Because the other versions don’t know what to do with “betimes” they change the entire concept to “earnestly”
Earnest and earnestly are King James Bible words but Betimes doesn’t mean earnest it means; before normal expected time.
You can’t just change the entire concept and meaning just because you don’t understand a word.
You would think that the new English Standard Verizon, being that it’s more modern, would have corrected this issue. However, they look like they approach the issue in a worse way than the NIV.
If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
Job 8:5 ESV.
They gut out the entire issue all together. They neither add earnest nor “earlier than expected within the verse”. They just completely take the entire concept out because they don’t know what to do with it.
The newer versions have completely mangled, or avoided altogether this ancient custom, this depriving the Bible reader from knowing how things were in the time of Job.
Thank you for your honesty and diligence to rightly divide the word of truth. A pastor friend of mine using the comparison of the Bible to milk preached a message titled "Don't Spill The Milk", handle the Bible as too precious to mess up or misinform people with. His name is Dr. Jeff Owens out of New Bern, NC. Perhaps you know or heard of him.
Thank you for your insight. I found your writings through a Google search of "alway vs always KJV". I do have a serious question for you, as this very thing has puzzled me for a while. Long story short, my KJV uses "always" in place of "alway". How can I find a KJV that uses the most accurate version??? I'm confused, as I've just assumed all KJVs were the same. Your helpful insights are greatly appreciated.
Thank you for the enlightening article.
It seems "betimes" occurs five times in God's word.
Shakespeare used the word more than twenty times in his writings.
One example:
"He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes ..."
ACT II. SCENE I. King Richard II
Thank you sir for publishing this. I still think we are softly urged sometimes to wake up betimes and seek peace from God. I can feel it inside me when I try and go back to bed versus when I wake up and get up to read and pray.