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.

Languages change. Words that used to be common are now wholly unknown. New words come into use. Perhaps most importantly of all, many words that meant one thing in past generations now mean something quite different, sometimes the opposite. Negative words can become positive. Complementary terms may become vulgar. Such changes often have a significant effect on how we understand older writings in our own language. A false sense of familiarity can fool us into taking a word in the wrong sense and misunderstanding the author’s point. This is no fault of the writer. They used words that made perfect sense in their own day. It is just an effect of the changing nature of languages over time. Old Bible translations are no exception. For the same reasons, translations like the KJV contain many words that meant one thing to the translators but something different to today’s readers. For an example of this, let’s consider the word “pitiful.”

Be pitiful

No one today would want to be thought of as pitiful. To be “pitiful” typically means to be pathetic and weak. It is a shameful, helpless, and demeaning state. Thus it seems strange to us that Paul would write:

“Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous,” (1 Peter 3:8, KJV).

We get why he would urge us to be compassionate, courteous, and loving, but why pitiful? We certainly want to be humble and willing to bear reproach, but ought we really to be pathetically weak or sadly helpless in the way that is implied by the term “pitiful?” Doesn’t Paul elsewhere tell us to “be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13, Ephesians 6:10, 2 Tim. 2:1)? The seeming conflict comes from the changing use of the word “pitiful.” Today, pitiful means “one who ought to be pitied.” and “pity” itself is generally understood to mean “feeling sorry for someone in a manner that looks down upon or shames them as weak or inferior.” People today want others to care, but they certainly don’t want their “pity.” But that is not always how pity was understood. For earlier generations of English speakers, pity simply meant sympathetic mercy. It meant to feel a sense of genuine compassion for someone that compelled you to take some practical action on their behalf. And to be “pitiful” did not mean to be the recipient of the pity of others. It meant to be full of pity for others. A pitiful person was a benefactor, a person who displayed acts of mercy and grace to others.

Thus, when we look at some other English translations, we see Paul’s word rendered “merciful,” (Wycliffe Bible), “kindhearted,” (NASB), “compassionate,” (NIV, CSB), “tenderhearted,” (NKJV), and “gracious.” (MEV). All of these are driving at the very same thing that translations like the KJV meant by pitiful. They are saying the same thing. Yet, today, “pitiful” no longer means what it did in 1611. It is no longer the best choice of English words to translate the word Paul used. It was the right choice in 1611, but today it means the wrong thing.

The Lord is very pitiful

Similarly, by today’s definitions of words, James almost seems to utter blasphemy when he writes:

“Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy,” (James 5:11, KJV).

The Lord is lofty and majestic, worthy of all honor and praise. He is far above all that He has created. He is not in any way “pitiful” in our modern use of that term. Yet, in the older usage, it is quite right to say that the Lord is pitiful. The KJV translators only meant what the Wycliffe Bible meant over 200 years before in saying:

“…the Lord is merciful and doing mercy…” (Wycliffe Bible).

Or what modern translators mean when they write:

“…the Lord is full of compassion…” (NASB, see also NKJV, ESV, NIV, CSB).

“… the Lord is very gracious…” (MEV).

All of these renderings are expressing God’s great love and active grace toward us, which is true. But since “pitiful” no longer means this, to continue using this word to describe God seems a mistake that is ripe for misunderstanding.