At this link is a thread I had started studying the Passover & the 7 Days of the Unleavened Bread.
Studying Passover & the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread | Baptist Christian Forums (baptistboard.com)
So it looks like Easter has to be done by other research.
Easter... or Passover? Acts 12:4
Quote below from this link above
"The word ‘passover’ was not known until it was used by William Tyndale in his Bible version (1526-31). Until that time no English Bible contained the word, which was left untranslated. Yet, ‘Easter’ was first used in his version. Wycliffe’s version referred to the Latin, pask or paske.
In Tyndale’s Bible, he used ‘Easter’ or ester, 14 times, and its allied words more times than that. However, in the Old Testament he retained ‘passover’. He is said to have interpreted ‘passover’ as ‘Easter’ in Paul’s book, because that is how the Christians (remember – by then including many gentiles/Romans and ex-pagans) in his day recognised the feast-day (pagan and Christian merging because they were about the same time). This, however, is only a partial answer."
To confirm this research I found Tyndale's Bible online.
Luke 22 - TYN Bible - Bible Study Tools
Luke 22:11 The feaste of swete breed drue nye whiche is called ester Tyndale's Bible
Luke 22:7 Then came ye daye of swete breed when of necessite the esterlambe must be offered. Tyndale's Bible
And most importantly;
Acts 12:4 And when he had caught him he put him in preson and delyvered him to .iiii. quaternios of soudiers to be kepte entendynge after ester to brynge him forth to the people. Tyndale's Bible
Interesting. So Easter did exists in Tyndale's bible before the KJV translated pascha as such in Acts 12:4.
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
2 Timothy 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Some problems with the link you posted:
1. Herod is not the one saying the word. The Word of God is what is saying the word.
2. The Greek word translated "Easter" is translated "passover" in the KJV every single other time it occurs in the NT.
3. The article is anonymous. So how can we check out the author? Could be a JW, or some other cult member.
4. The author doesn't give any sources. So how can we know he is right?
5. The author claims that Paul wrote Acts. Could be a liberal. Conservative authors agree about Luke. "What we can say positivly is that the tradition that Luke wrote the third Gospel and Acts goes back at least to the early second century, that it was unanimously accepted within the church, and that it would be very strange were it not true" (The Expositor's Bible Commentary, "Luke," by Richard Longenecker, p. 240).
I'm not saying I disagree with you, but only that your source is quite questionable.
John of Japan
These appear to be the two people behind the website, with one claiming to have “the mantle of responsibility for writing the content.” People Behind Bible Theology Ministries
Hark said: ↑
Interesting. So Easter did exists in Tyndale's bible before the KJV translated pascha as such in Acts 12:4.
A brief sketch of some study I have made in the past.
Englishmen had no word for the Old Testament feast of Passover, and identified the New Testament Passover with the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what they called Ester or Easter. The English translator Wycliffe used “paske” here, basically transliterating it over from the Greek or Latin. On the other hand, nearly 200 years later when Tyndale translated the New Testament, he chose “ester,”* a word that was in common usage at that time. The word “Passover,” which is current in most modern translations, did not exist at that time. Tyndale himself coined the word “Passover” when he translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into English. Possibly (just a guess and an opinion), he felt that using “Easter/Ester” was taking something back from the New Testament and transposing it on the old. Regardless, he is the source of the word “Passover.”
As translation and language progressed, the use of “Easter” for Passover in the New Testament dwindled. By the time of the 1568 Bishops’ Bible “Easter” is used only twice (Acts 12:4 and John 11:55). With the coming of the King James, “Easter” was left with this one solitary use.
We're in a conference, so I don't have time to write much, but ISBE vol. 2 (rev. 1982) says, "The term Easter was derived from the Anglo-Saxon 'Eostre,' the name of the goddess of Spring." In the 8th century, it began to be applied to the resurrection of Christ (article by D. W. Burdick). Doesn't sound like passover at all to me.
John of Japan
Well, it is good to question sources for why I sought out in a bing search engine for a Tyndale Bible online. I did not take that poster's word for it at that Christian forum, because he was in error about the author of Acts being Paul & not Luke's. I believe it is Luke because Paul would not write about himself in the third person. Only another witness like Luke could have done it.
And since Tyndale's Bible is not at Bible gateway, I had hoped in the Lord that He raised someone else up to put the Tyndale Bible online & He must have done so.
Acts 12 - TYN Bible - Bible Study Tools
But it is only part of the answer about the Easter usage in KJV Acts 12:4, but as you say & I agree, I fail to see why the KJV translators continue to use Easter for only one time when they had applied Passover elsewhere in the Bible like the 1599 Geneva bible had done.
At any rate, to say KJV pulled Easter out of thin air is a bit of an oversight when apparently they never translated pascha for passover at all from before.
Jews often refer to the first month of their year as spring time thus also as the Passover month. Is that why ester was translated from pascha to mean? Unless we get some reliable resource from the KJV translators for why they used Easter in Acts 12:4 instead of Passover for the rest of the KJV or even from Tyndale for why they had translated ester from pascha for what people have translated to mean passiver afterwards in Bibles after Tyndale's we may never know..
Hark
Hark said: ↑
At any rate, to say KJV pulled Easter out of thin air is a bit of an oversight when apparently they never translated pascha for passover at all from before.
..
William Tyndale translated the New Testament before he translated the Old Testament. William Tyndale had used "Easter" or "ester" in translating the Greek NT, likely from influence of Luther's German Bible. Easter was used by Tyndale as a rendering to refer to the Jewish Passover.
Because this rendering "Easter" was used to refer to the Jewish Passover would not be proof that a Christian celebration called "Easter" existed in the time of the New Testament. It has not been claimed that the KJV pulled the word "Easter" "out of thin air." It is acknowledged to be fact that Tyndale had earlier used "Easter" for the Jewish Passover.
William Tyndale is said to have coined or invented the word "passover" when he later translated the Old Testament. This word may not have been invented in English when he first translated the New Testament or at least this word had not been used as the English name for this certain Jewish feast.
The 1535 Coverdale's Bible had even used "Easter" for the Jewish Passover in a few Old Testament verses.
Ezekiel 45:21 in the 1535 Coverdale's Bible
Upon ye xiiii day of the first month ye shal kepe Easter. Seven days shal the feast contynue, wherin there shal no sower ner leveded bred be eat.
After this rendering "passover" was used in the English Old Testament, the early English Bible translators would soon begin to use it also in the New Testament for the Jewish Passover, replacing the earlier uses of "Easter" to refer to the Jewish Passover.
The 1560 Geneva Bible had replaced all the English NT uses of "Easter" with "Passover" while the 1568 Bishops' Bible replaced most of them, leaving three uses unchanged or uncorrected [two uses at John 11:55 and one at Acts 12:4].
There is some historical evidence from the 1600's that the KJV translators had likely followed the Geneva Bible's rendering "the passover" at Acts 12:4, and that a Church of England prelate or prelates inserted "Easter" back into this verse.
Edward Whiston indicated that a great prelate, the chief supervisor of the KJV, inserted “Easter” back into the text of the KJV at this verse as one of the 14 changes he was said to have made (Life and Death of Mr. Henry Jessey, p. 49). In his 1648 sermon entitled “Truth and Love,” Thomas Hill also noted that Acts 12:4 “was another place that was altered (as you have heard) to keep up that holy time of Easter, as they would think it” (Six Sermons, p. 25).
Last edited: Mar 3, 2021
Oops, right there in the 1560 Geneva Bible:
note at Matt 27:15, "It was a tradition of the Jews to deliver a prisoner at Easter."
Jerome
Has this debate ever covered the fundamental source and the etymology of the words related to this issue?
My understanding is :
1) Paska has been translated as Passover all the time except Acts 12:4
2) The problem is that it was already the Days of the Unleavened Bread, and that Passover is the first day of the Feast of DUB. So if we translate Paska as Passover here in Acts 12:4, then it sounds like contradictory because it was already Days of Unleavened Bread and Passover is one day before DUB. ( or the first day of DUB if we count Passover is included in DUB as it is the first day of the DUB)
3) BDB Hebrew Lexicon, Thayer Greek Lexicon tell us :
Chaldean : Pischa, Hebrew Pesach, Assyrians : Pasahu.
These were all represented by Paska
I understand there were several specialists in Chaldean language among KJV translators.
Paska usually meant A) Passover Sacrifice, B) Passover Festival C) Passover Lamb D) The whole period of Passover thru Days of Un-Leavened Bread.
Can we imagine that the pagan kings remembered and celebrated Passover Feast since the time of Judges except King Josiah
2 Kings 23:
22 Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem.
Few Israeli Kings celebrated Passover but pagan King Herod was a devout for LORD and celebrated and kept Passover and Days of Un Leavened Bread? I strongly doubt.
4) I know Easter is connected with Ostara in Germany. But I have no doubt it is from Ishtar the name of goddess in Babylon. So, Easter is not the biblical name for Passover or Pesach.
Easter is definitely connected with goddess Ishtar and Babylonian religion.
Actually Easter is often different from Passover and it doesn't represent the day of the Resurrection of Jesus. For example, in this year 2021, we have Passover on March 27 and Easter is 4th April. Jesus was crucified on Passover, then He was resurrected after 8 days?
Easter is the Day of Resurrection of Tamuz, son of goddess Ishtar!, after 40 days of LENT.
Ezekiel 8:14 explains about this practice.
I wouldn't conclude Acts 12:4 should have Easter instead of Passover definitely as I don't have much further evidences but understand there are lots of monumental discoveries about the pagan festivals for goddess Ishtar in the Middle Eastern region, worshipping Astarte, Ishtar, Ostara, Asherah, and the festival was after the Spring Equinox, after the first full moon, on the day of Sun.
We cannot reach the conclusion without the full understanding about these fundamental issues.
Eliyahu
The passage does not say that Herod was the one who was observing pascha.
The immediate context of Acts 12:4 demonstrated that king Herod was aware that his earlier action of vexing certain of the church “pleased the Jews” (Acts 12:3). The context also revealed that Herod “proceeded further” to take another action that he thought would please the Jews. Would Herod be continuing to please the Jews if he supposedly waited to observe a pagan holiday or festival? Would the celebrations and practices associated with a pagan festival please or offend the Jews? Does the context actually maintain that Herod in proceeding further to take Peter would then do something contradictory to this action intended to please the Jews? It was actually Luke that used the Greek word pascha for the time for which Herod was waiting since this verse gives no indication that Herod was being directly quoted. The Bible verse or context does not directly say that Herod was keeping or observing pascha. “The people” of Acts 12:4 could be referring to or would be including the Jews mentioned in verse 3. In Acts 12:11, it refers to “the expectation of the people of the Jews.” Therefore according to the context, the Jews were clearly the people that Herod wanted to please again by his further action. Therefore, nothing in the verse and context proves that Herod could not have been waiting for the Jews to finish keeping their pascha so that he could bring Peter forth and please the Jews again. In other words, the context indicates that Herod did not want to risk displeasing the Jews by executing Peter during their Jewish pascha and may not indicate whether Herod personally had any scruples or principles against executing Peter during a festival. Herod also would have no reason to seek to displease the Jews and to honor and respect the church that he was vexing by waiting until after any claimed church celebration. Therefore, the clear evidence from the context clearly supports the understanding that the Jews would be the ones keeping the pascha [also called the feast of unleavened bread in Luke 22:1] instead of the assertion that Herod had to be the one keeping it. If Herod was also keeping it, the context indicates that it was the Jewish pascha that he would be keeping and not some pagan festival nor any Christian celebration.
In his commentary on Acts, Paton Gloag asserted that the Herod of Acts 12 “was strict in the observance of the Mosaic law” (I, p. 415). Gloag added: “According to the strict Jews, it was not reckoned lawful to defile their festal days with executions, and Herod Agrippa prided himself on being a strict observer of the law” (I, p. 416). In his commentary on Acts, William Humphrey reported that Josephus maintained that this Herod was “strongly attached to the Jewish law” (p. 100). In his commentary, Livermore maintained that “Herod forbore to execute Peter during the feast of Passover, out of regard to the custom of the Jews” (p. 177). In his 1645 commentary on Acts, John Lightfoot (1602-1675) noted: “Agrippa, having laid hold upon him, deferred his execution till after the Passover” (p. 322). Likewise, the 1645 Westminster Annotations have this note on “the days of unleavened bread” at Acts 12:4: “These words intimate the cause why he deferred Peter’s execution, for reverence of the Passover, which lasted eight days.” In the 1695 second edition of his Paraphrase on the New Testament, Richard Baxter has this note on Acts 12:4: “He set sixteen soldiers to keep him, that after the Passover he might sacrifice him to the people.”
Moved by the Holy Spirit, Luke could definitely have used the Greek word in the same sense as he did in Luke 22:1. Comparing Scripture with Scripture, the context of Acts 12:3-4 is in agreement with the understanding that this Greek word was used in the same sense as in Luke 22:1.
Logos 1560
Your post is good in connecting Herod’s delay of the Execution to Pleasing the Jews, instead of his celebration of Passover or pagan festival.
On the other hand, there are Undeniable Facts:
1) The verses mentioned Days of Unleavened Bread already but it doesn’t say Herod wanted to execute Peter after DUB, but after Paska
2) Passover comes before DUB, but the verse 3 says it was already DUB
3) End of the DUB is not Passover.
4) It was Herod who intended the execution after Paska, not the Jews. Herod intended to delay the execution.
5) Whether or not Herod celebrated Paska, Herod didn’t want to disturb the Festival of Paska
6) Why doesn’t it say : Herod intended the execution after the Days of Unleavened Bread which was mentioned in the previous verse already?
If it is because Paska or Passover can represent the whole period of the Feast, why wasn’t it used in the previous verse? Because DUB was already used.
7) I don’t think Herod was entirely neutral about the festival and I can easily imagine the ruling class of the Middle Eastern Countries celebrated the pagan festival Ishtar because,
There are so many articles, historical remains, monuments about Astarte, Asherah, Ishtar, Ostara, even Artemis in Acts 19:27-28 as the whole world celebrate the Easter, the pagan festival. This is why Jews didn’t have to necessarily celebrate Easter, but we can imagine the mixture of Jewish DUB and pagan Eastar
8) Which word in Greek were the pagan Festivals Ishtar, Astarte translated into ? All those pagan festivals were translated into Paska, I believe. In other words, Paska didn’t mean only Passover, but Pasahu, Pischa, eventually Easter.
What you couldn’t say is about the Jewish customs or the social situations at that time, because Sadducees often celebrated the different calendars of Pentecost, and majority of the Middle Eastern people would have celebrated Easter as Chaldeans celebrated Pischa, Assyrians Pasahu, Lebanese Astarte, even Israelites worshipped Asherah, and the day of the celebration would have been the first Day of Sun, after the Full Moon and after Spring Equinox.
Even today, I notice Jews don’t know the meaning of Pesach.
What about Christians?
They celebrate Easter! Not Passover! Not the Day of Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!, but the Day of Resurrection of Tamuz! ( Ezekiel 8:14)
This is why in this year, we have the Easter on April 4, 2021, 8 days after Passover on March 26-27.
Jesus would have been resurrected on March 30, 2021 if He had been crucified on March 27
However, we have Easter on April 4 this year, which has nothing to do with Resurrection of Jesus.
Because the whole world overwhelmingly celebrate Ishtar ( Name of Goddess in Babylon!)
Sadducees calculated Omer only from the next day after the regular Sabbath after Passover, resulting in their Pentecost on Sunday all the time.
What about the Christians today? They believe Pentecost is always Sunday!
Because they count 50 days from the regular Sabbath after Passover.
That’s Sadducee’s calculation.
But the true Pentecost can be any day of the week counted from the next day of the High Sabbath of DUB.
What I am saying here is that the whole world has been full of paganism either at the time of Acts 12:4 or even today.
Pasahu or Ishtar or Easter must have been a huge festival especially in the whole Middle Eastern Region,
and the Easter was quite similar to the End of the DUB ( Days of Unleavened Bread) deceiving even the People of Israel.
Both Easter and Pentecost are all the time Sundays! Celebrating the Holy Day of the Invincible Sun!
The Truth is that Day of Resurrection of our Lord Jesus can be any day of the week after Passover, and Pentecost can be any day of the week counted from the High Sabbath of the DUB.
KJV translators could have raised the questions about this issue because of the contradictions mentioned above, and left Paska as Easter distinguished from other Paska’ translated into Passovers.
I don’t trust any human exegesis over the Bible. John Lightfoot may be a famous scholar, but I remember he interpreted Ignatius’ Letter to Magnesians in the wrong way about the Sabbath. He may be based on Anglican theology or Catholicism.
I often noticed wrong translations of the bibles by many famous Christians, in terms of Clergy System, Catholicism, Mosaic Law,
Revelation and Eschatology, etc.
So, your introduction of many famous people means nothing for me, though I rely on the dictionaries and lexicons.
Eliyahu
Not all the time. Paska was left untranslated until Tyndale's bible in English & before him, Martin Luther's bible in German as they lived in the same time period.
Tyndale's Bible at this link to view Luke 22nd chapter where ester in first verse is Easter & esterlambe in 7th verse to refer to the sacrifice at what we know now as Passover.
Luke 22 - TYN Bible - Bible Study Tools
So Easter in the N.T. back then was the Passover in the O.T. Just because as time went on, Bibles were using Passover more in the N.T. did not mean that the Jewish festivity was never known as Easter back then. This usage has been forgotten then for modern usage today but not back in the days of the KJV.
Thank you for sharing but as some KJV sites would use that explanation of Herod being a pagan & celebrating pagan Easter for why the day of Passover could not be after the 7 days of unleavened bread when in fact, the 8 days of unleavened can also be attributed as the Passover, per Luke 22:1 , it falls flat. It is a reasoning borne out of assumptions when trying to justify why the KJV had it as Easter in Acts 12:4
Regardless of why Easter is there per KJV, Easter was there in Tyndale's Bible in English & Martin Luther's Bible in German. Easter is Passover back then because they had Easterlamb in Luke 22:7 as that can only refer to the Jewish festivity that we have now come to know only as Passover.
It is because today we separate Easter from the Passover that anti-KJVers see it as a goof in the KJV, when they are just forgetting what time has forgotten but not in the days of the KJV because back then Easter had the same definition & reference for why it is the same as Passover today.
HARK
Hark,
As for Luke 22:1, this verse says DUB was approaching, then in 22:7 the day of DUB came.
These doesn't specify the day clearly, but verse 7 coincides with Mt 26:17 which says Te Prote
Τῇ δὲ πρώτῃ τῶν ἀζύμων προσῆλθον οἱ μαθηταὶ τῷ Ἰησοῦ λέγοντες αὐτῷ Ποῦ θέλεις ἑτοιμάσωμέν σοι φαγεῖν τὸ πάσχα
τη δε πρωτη is the Dative Form of the Protos πρωτοσ.
This prote, protos means 2 days before the DUB, because Jews couldn't perfectly hurry up
the hiding of the Leavens before the DUB. Therefore 2 days before DUB are the days of preparation hiding the Leavens. One day is the Passover and therefore it doesn't have to be mentioned as the Prote, but one day before Passover was called Prote or Protos.
Then we can solve the puzzle. On the Protos, one day before Passover, Disciples prepared
the Last Supper, and when the evening came, it was the evening of Passover and they had the supper. Lord Jesus was arrested in that night and in the morning He was sentenced to death, on the same day by Jewish Calendar, which was Passover. The Passover Lamb was slaughtered in the afternoon of the same day as Jesus was hung on the Cross, around the time when Jesus cried " Tetelestai"
So, Passover is not always used to represent the whole Feast period of DUB.
Rather, as we see in Luke 22:1, 7, Mt 26:17, DUB was used often to represent the whole Feast of DUB and Passover.
Strangely, in Acts 12:4, it was already DUB in the previous verse, but it mentioned the delay of Execution after Pascha. This Pascha must be after previously mentioned DUB.
Even this year the Passover is 27th March, then it ends on April 3 (Some people claim it is by 4th April), the next day is Easter April 4th.
https://messianiclight.com/2021-feast-dates/
So, the Easter is often around the end of DUB or right after DUB.
As we can read thru the facts that Tyndale translated Pascha into Ester, throughout the ages and centuries, the paganism surrounding Easter, Ishtar, Astarte, Asherah Artemis have been overwhelming in the spring festivals.
I would rather presume KJV translators dug into quite deep on this matter.
Thanks
ELIYAHU
Luke 22:1Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. KJV
This is why many incorporate the 7 days of the unleavened bread with the first day of the Passover as you stated that there are 8 days of unleavened bread for why Luke refer to the first day of Passover as also the first day of unleavened bread.
One can surmised that is why they called the 7 days of unleavened bread also as Passover even though only on the Passover day is the lamb to be sacrifice, cooked, and eaten on that day with the unleavened bread whereas the 7 days of the unleavened bread, the lamb offering is not to be eaten but just the unleavened bread.
One can assume clarification was needed for understanding Acts 12:4 as not meaning the actual Passover day itself for why Easter is used once again in the KJV when the 1599 Genevan Bible had it as Passover, but we will never know for sure other than it is not wrong to use Easter in Acts 12:4 just because today's society dropped how they used Easter back in the KJV Bible and more importantly, back in Tyndale's English Bible & Martin Luther's German Bible for why the people, not even the Puritans, of KJV times did not make an uproar about it then..
Hark
Hark,
Pascha appears 29 times in 27 verses.( Mark 14:12 and John 11:55 have it twice)
KJV translators translated it into Passover 28 times but into Easter only in Acts 12:4
Did they make mistakes in Acts 12:4 while they were inerrant in other verses? Hardly!
They rendered it into Easter because they found some contradiction there.
Indeed, Passover can represent the Feast of DUB and DUB can Passover as well.
However, everyone knows, if we go into detail and more specifically, Passover precedes Days of Unleavened Bread.
When KJV translators notice both DUB and Passover in 2 connecting verses, they must have found the difficulty to translate
the later one first and the first one after the later festival.
This year we have the Passover on March 27, and Days of Unleavened Bread end on April 3.
Passover: March 27, DUB: Mar 28-Apr 3, Easter: April 4, 2021
Assuming Peter is arrested on the first April which is already DUB, Government intends to execute Peter after Passover?
Imagine Festival Ishtar, Easter was celebrated all over Middle East as Easter is celebrated all over the world today, while DUB is not so much popular among the people today.
If Pascha means both Passover and Easter, and it was already during DUB, the day after the Pascha( Passover) means after Passover?
What about after Easter, the pagan festival which comes at the end of DUB or right after the DUB?
The main point is that people would have not noticed or have skipped the problem of contradiction if KJV had translated it into Passover.
In conclusion, apparently there is a certain contradiction in the sequence of the feasts in Acts 12:3-4 if we go into detail precisely.
We’d better avoid the conclusion that KJV translators simply made the mistakes because there is an apparent problem with the contradiction.
Even if Passover can represent the whole period of DUB feast, there is a danger ignoring the then current practice of the paganism, the Festival of Ishtar, Easter which usually comes at the end of DUB.
On the final day, God may clearly explain us the True meaning of it.
Eliyahu