literally the only translation that puts "Ishtar" in Acts 12:4 is KJV
these all predate the KJV by many years, and the KJV translating body evidently just followed what they had done already here.
although, the Geneva Bible had been around since 1560 and it has "Passover" -- so there was evidently already controversy over what was correct.
Luther's Bible, 1522, in German, has "Ostern" ((Ishtar)) here, also.
there are many German Bibles predating Luther's translation, tho many of them are only preserved in fragments now. the Gothic or Wilfila Bible ((5th century)), for example, doesn't have any known copies that include Acts. the Gutenberg, Mentelin and a few others are accessible online as scanned copies of the pages, but they don't have chapter/verse annotation and it's difficult to parse through looking for this verse.
the history is interesting; i would like to know where the idea of changing Pascha to Ishtar in translation originated: obviously not with the Greek copies, as they all faithfully have "Pascha" and don't use some other word. Luke himself obviously meant to use exactly the same word that means Passover -- there is no doubt. but somewhere along the line, someone decided they'd put Ishtar/Easter here instead. it did not originate with KJV as Tyndale & the earliest Catholic Bibles have it, and KJV seems to have followed suit, but it was not ubiquitous as the Geneva Bible has Passover. but it didn't even originate in English translations, as Luther's Bible, almost 100 years before king James, has the German equivalent of Ishtar instead of Pascha.
did it originate with Luther? we'd need to look at the Germanic Bibles that predate it. which i will have a stab at.
- 2
- 1
- Show all