This article is part of a series on the changing meaning of English words and its impact on the King James Only debate. To see the introduction to this series, click The King James Version and the changing use of words.

Over time, the meaning and usage of words in any language change. Over the last 400 years, English has changed quite a bit. Grammar, syntax, punctuation systems, vocabulary, every element of the language has changed in multiple ways and yet without becoming a wholly different language! Perhaps one of the most significant and easy to overlook changes are words that remain in popular use but change in their common meaning. Some words that meant one thing even a relatively short time ago now mean something quite different in present-day English. These changes can impact how we understand older English writings without our even realizing that we are misunderstanding them. For an example of this, let’s consider the word “host.”

The LORD of Hosts

One of the most familiar places where we encounter the word “hosts” in the KJV is in the common title for God, “the LORD of Hosts.” This title occurs some 235 times in the King James Version. The title has become sacred and familiar, finding a place in Christian songs and literature and even, out of sheer familiarity and popular reverence for the title, has remained in most modern translations, appearing a similar number of times in the NKJV, MEV, NASB, ESV, HCSB, and others. Yet, as we praise God as the “Lord of Hosts,” what do we actually mean by that? What are we saying about God that he is “of hosts”? The term has become such a part of our religious vocabulary that we can read it, sing it, use it in our prayers, and yet never stop to actually wonder what it is we are claiming. What were the Biblical writers trying to communicate when they labeled God the “Lord of Hosts?” Take, for example, the words of the Psalmist:

“The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah,” (Psalm 46:7, KJV)

God is with us and is our refuge as the “Lord of Hosts.” But what are “hosts” in this context? A few modern translations make it clearer by using more current language, such as:

“The Lord of Armies is with us…” (CSB).

This is actually a quite literal translation of the phrase. “Hosts” are armies. They are military forces. When we call God the “LORD of Hosts” we are actually lauding Him as a great military commander who guards and protects His people. This is why we can take refuge in His being “with us.” If the Lord of Armies is on our side, what do we have to fear? If He is with us, who can be against us? He is the master of heavenly hosts, of angelic armies who answer to His supreme and sovereign command. It is a statement of God’s unrivaled glory, might, authority, and power that He stands above and in control of all the armies of the heavenly angels. He is Lord of lords and God of gods. there is none above Him, nor has He any equal!

Yet, we often miss this implication because we don’t know what a “host” is and we are so familiar with the term in our religious vocabulary that we rarely stop to even ponder it!

Upon Pharaoh and upon all his what?

We can see this meaning clearly when we look at other places where the term “host” is used. For example, leading up to the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus, God says:

“And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen,” (Exodus 14:17).

To understand this verse, not only must we parse out what “get me honour” means, we also need to (more relevant to our purposes here) identify who is might by “Pharaoh’s host.” In this particular verse, we can actually use the immediate context to work out a good estimate of what this might mean. Pharaoh’s “host” seems to consist of his chariots and horseman. It is his army. As it turns out, that is, indeed, what the word meant in earlier English. This is why modern translations unanimously render this:

“…I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen,” (NASB, see also NIV, NKJV, CSB, NET, MEV).

It is the army of Pharaoh that God would destroy. That is what a “host” is.

Similarly, Moses writes elsewhere:

“These are those which were numbered of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers: all those that were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty,” (Numbers 2:32).

Even the Geneva Bible, a predecessor of the KJV, rendered this phrase “according to their armies” rather than “throughout their hosts.” This does not mean that “hosts” was a poor choice of word at the time. It simply shows us that “armies” and “hosts” were synonyms. Note how modern translations render the phrase:

“…by their armies…” (NASB, see also NKJV).

“…by their companies…” (ESV).

“…by their military divisions…” (CSB).

To take one more example:

“And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest,” (Genesis 21:22).

Interestingly, virtually every major English translation prior to the KJV simply rendered the phrase here as “his chief captain” with no reference to his “host” at all.¹See the translations of Tyndale, Coverdale, the Matthew Bible, Great Bible, Geneva Bible, and Bishops Bible. Thus, by translating “the chief captain of his host,” the KJV parts ways with the traditional old English translations and agrees with modern translations which read:

“…commander of his army…” (NASB, see also ESV, NKJV, CSB).

“…commander of his forces…” (NIV),

Again, we see that “hosts” are “armies.” Thus, when we praise God as the “Lord of Hosts,” we are lauding Him as the “Lord of Armies,” something few of us have stopped to really ponder as the title is so often left shrouded in old language.