We gotta stop using the King James Version.

The normalization of militarism, the idea of patriotism, even Christian Nationalism,

lots of these things have either roots or intersections with the King James Bible.

Where one man found a way to testosterone his way into scripture, he made a million men do it everywhere for a long time.

What I do know, however, is that King James, if he he heard that there might be a little change he could take advantage of, would eat. that. shit up.

King James could have stumbled onto a way to write his name into the Holy Scriptures. Forever.

And it worked.

In James 1:1, the Greek is ιακοβας (iakobas)

Which is the same as the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible for Jacob.

I don’t have access to a Vulgate or know Latin, but I think somewhere the Latin goes to like a “iacomas” with that b to m change. But I don’t know that stuff.

So to bring it home,

King James or his loyalist translator or whoever, cared enough about forcing the importance of saluting onto the people, that they wrote it into a story of two of the most important women in the Bible, while they were pregnant.

We don’t need to use the KJV anymore. Period.

Could it be possible that when King James, acting as the head of the church, when he ordered the Bible to be translated, forced the word “salutes” into common stories in order to normalize or encourage saluting.

Who do you salute in 16th century England? The King.

Matthew 5:47, in the sermon on the mount, if you used King James, it would read “and if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others.”

NIV, “and if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?”

Do people just walk around saluting each other?

It’s completely wrong, and weird. Marry greeted Elizabeth.

But this is part of a bigger pattern in the KJV. Every time the word everyone translates as “greets” occurs, KJV will say “salutes”

For the record, I think I’m over 20 today.