1001 Errors in the Christian Bible

Mark -- Errors 259-265

#259

Mark 15: (KJV)

26 “And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

The underlying Greek gives no indication of WHERE this inscription was (KJV has added “over”). A majority of modern Christian translations either explicitly or strongly implicitly indicate that the inscription was placed over the crucified Jesus obviously mistranslating to make “Mark” agree with the other Gospellers here.

#260

Mark 15: (KJV)

26 “And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Compare to Matthew 27: (KJV)

37 “And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Apparently Herod complained about the first sign.

#261

Mark 15: (KJV)

27 “And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.”

According to the rules of the Sanhedrin there could only be one defendant per session. Also, stealing was not a capital offense under Roman law.

#262

Mark 15: (KJV)

32 “Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross”

As previously noted, “cross” is a mistranslation.

#263

Mark 15: (KJV)

33 “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.”

We have records from astronomers of the first century and none of them report any three hour period of darkness in Israel or the entire world. The boy prophet Bruce Springsteen did report a darkness on the edge of town but that was two thousand years later. It was a common literary technique of the time for biographers to report such a supernatural darkness at the demise of people they considered great.

#264

Mark 15: (KJV)

34 “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”

Compare to Matthew 27: (KJV)

46 “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”

The authors are trying to transliterate in Greek a supposed Aramaic statement by Jesus. The statements are more different in the Greek. Perhaps Jesus was repeating the same statement in different dialects so everyone would understand what he was saying.

#265

Mark 15: (KJV)

39 “And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.”

Compare to Matthew 27: (KJV)

54 “Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”

The witnesses seem to be multiplying.

© 2001-2006 1001 Errors in the Christian Bible ®™ All rights reserved.