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 HERE.

One of the most important facets to understand about language is that, over time, words change in their meaning and usage. This is true of every language and is certainly true in English over the last four centuries. Words that used to mean one thing now mean something completely different to present-day English speakers. These changes can impact how we read older English writings without our even realizing that we are misunderstanding what the author meant. Many passages in the King James Version are affected by this principle. Though they were quite clear to readers of their own day, the words now carry a different sense than they did in 1611, and modern readers can walk away with a mistaken understanding of what the text means. As an example of this principle, consider the word “spoil.”

Beware lest any man…

In our day and age, to “spoil” means to ruin. When we speak of food “spoiling,” we mean that it has become rotten, molded, stale, or otherwise become inedible. When we say that someone has “spoiled” their child, we mean that they have ruined their Child’s character, typically by giving them whatever they want and failing to set boundaries so that the child becomes increasingly self-centered. We sometimes even say that such a child is “spoiled rotten.” Similar to rotten food, we are saying that something in the child is ruined. That is what it means to “spoil.” This definition naturally comes with us when we read older texts, as when we read Paul saying:

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ,” (Colossians 2:8, KJV).

We may naturally think that Paul is warning that such philosophy and vain deceit, while sounding good to our ears, might spoil you the way toys and treats, while seeming good, may spoil a child. We assume that Paul is warning about how certain teachings may ruin you. This sounds reasonable and seems to fit, so we move on without any reason to question our assumption or even realize that we have made one. Yet, this is not what “spoil” means here. The word “spoil” here is an archaic verb form of the noun “spoils,” as in “the spoils of war,” or “to the victor go the spoils.” Thus, to “spoil” is to plunder, seize, rob, or take as spoils. Note how modern translations render the phrase here:

“See to it that no one takes you captive…” (NASB, see also ESV, NIV, CSB).

In this case, when the KJV translators used the term “spoil you,” they meant “claim you as plunder” or “carry you off as spoils.” They were saying exactly what modern translations are saying, but we are more apt to miss it because we don’t use “spoil” that way anymore.

Oppressed and spoiled evermore

Similarly, we read elsewhere:

“And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee,” (Deuteronomy 28:29, KJV).

A modern reader might be confused by this. An oppressed person has rights, liberties, or possessions taken from them. But a spoiled person generally has too much given to them. These ideas of “oppressed” and “spoiled” seem to be at odds. Perhaps one might then conclude that they are not “spoiled” like a child, but rather “spoiled” like rotten meat or curdled milk. They are “ruined” as in decayed. This certainly fits the image of someone oppressed and destitute, though it is an unusual way to say it. Still, it would again be wrong. “Spoiled” is once more being used in what is now an archaic sense (though, for the KJV translators, it was just common speech.) Note how modern translations read here:

“You shall only be oppressed and robbed continually,” (NASB, see also ESV, CSB, NIV).

“You shall be only oppressed and plundered continually,” (NKJV).

In this case, the KJV translators are using “spoiled” in the sense of having your possessions seized from you as plunder. You are not yourself taken as plunder but are “plundered” in the sense of being robbed by your enemies. This, too, was a perfectly appropriate way to use the word “spoiled” in 1611, though it’s hardly what we would mean by it today.  Thus, once again, the KJV and modern translations are actually in agreement, though the wording of the KJV is far more prone to misunderstanding by today’s readers.

So, when we read that Israel defeated the Philistines and “spoiled their tents,” (1 Samuel 17:53, KJV), they didn’t ruin or rot their tents, they took the possessions out of them. They “plundered their tents,” (NKJV, see also NASB, ESV, NIV, CSB). Likewise, when we read that God was angry with Israel and “delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them,” (Judges 2:14, KJV), it means that he gave them over to their enemies who robbed them, or “to plunderers, who plundered them,” (ESV, see also NASB). Throughout the KJV, this is what is meant by “spoil.” It was a perfect choice of word in its own day, but it is by no means the one and only perfect way to express the idea in English for all time. There are, indeed, clearer and more precise ways to say the same thing in today’s English, which is what modern translations do.