The time-honored King James Version of the Bible does use some expressions that
are not familiar to most readers today. These old words or obsolete definitions
for words are not many and can be learned easily and quickly. Here is a list
of most of them.
• afore = before
• aforetime = in times past
• artificer = craftsman
• audience = hearing
• bewrayeth = betrayeth
• bondmen = slaves
• cast = throw, put
• caul = fat
• charity = love
• chide = contend
• cleave, clave = cut, cling
• coast = border
• conversation = behavior
• deal = part
• dearth = famine
• discomfit = defeat
• discover = expose
• divers = diverse, various
• emulation = jealousy
• ensample = example
• ere = before
• espied = discovered
• even = evening
• forswear = perjure
• forthwith = immediately
• fretting = festering
• froward = perverse
• graven = carved
• hearken = listen
• heave = lift
• holpen = helped
• husbandman = farmer
• husbandry = farm
• kine = cows
• let = hinder
• list = want
• mammon = money
• meat = food, meal
• meet = fitting, suitable
• mingle = mix
• minish = diminish
• morrow = next day
• nigh = near
• ouch = setting
• ought = any
• peculiar = special
• peradventure = perhaps, suppose
• plaiting = braiding
• privily = privately
• prove = test, try
• publican = tax collector
• purloining = pilfering, embezzling
• quick = alive
• quicken = make alive
• remove = move
• rend = tear
• rereward = rear guard
• save, saving = except
• seethe = boil
• selfsame = very same
• shew = show
• singular = special
• sodden = boiled
• sore = greatly
• straightway = immediately
• stranger = foreigner
• strawed = scattered
• succour = help
• suffer = allow
• tell = count
• tempt = test, try
• terrible = awe-inspiring
• throughly = thoroughly
• turtle = turtle dove
• twain = two
• usury = interest
• verily = truly
• victuals = food supplies
• want = lack
• ward = prison
• wax = become
• wherefore = why or therefore
• wist = knew
• wittingly = knowingly
• wont = accustomed
• wot = know
• wreathen = braided
• wroth = angry
• whither = where
• whence = from where
Used with permission of Richard Flanders, 6061 Maple Road, Vassar, MI 48768.