Acts 12:4 (King James Version)
And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
Acts 12:4 (New International Version)
After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
| • | After | arresting | him | , | he | put | him | in | prison | , | handing | him | over | to | |||||||||||
| καὶ2 | → | πιάσας3 | ὃν1 | → | ἔθετο4 | • | εἰς5 | φυλακήν6 | παραδοὺς7 | αὐτόν12 | ◄7 | → |
| be | guarded | by | four | squads | of | four | soldiers | each | . | Herod | |||||||||
| → | φυλάσσειν11 | ►9 | τέσσαρσιν8 | τετραδίοις9 | ← | ← | στρατιωτῶν10 | βουλόμενος13 | • |
| intended | to | bring | him | out | for public trial | after | the | Passover | . | ||||||||||
| ◄13 | → | ἀναγαγεῖν17 | αὐτὸν18 | ◄17 | τῷ19 λαῷ20 | μετὰ14 | τὸ15 | πάσχα16 |
Acts 12:4 represents a singular and puzzling inconsistency in the KJV’s translation strategy, where the translators rendered the Greek word pascha as “Easter” in this one instance while translating it as “Passover” throughout the remaining 28 occurrences in the New Testament.
The Anomaly Itself
The word “Easter” appears only once in the KJV at Acts 12:4, despite the Greek word pascha being translated correctly as “Passover” in the 28 other places where it occurs in the New Testament.[1] This creates a jarring discontinuity: readers encounter “Passover” consistently throughout Scripture, then suddenly encounter “Easter” in Acts 12:4, then return to “Passover” in subsequent passages. Later revisions of the KJV consistently translate pascha as “Passover” in all passages, including Acts 12:4, across the ASV, RSV, and NEB.[1]
The Theological Problem
The substitution introduces conceptual confusion by conflating two distinct realities. The Greek word pascha appears twenty-nine times in the New Testament and always refers to the Jewish Passover, although in English and other modern languages the term has carried over to refer to the Christian festival.[2] Herod’s intention in Acts 12:4 was to arrest Peter after the Jewish Passover festival—a specific historical and religious moment tied to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. By rendering this as “Easter,” the KJV obscures the Jewish context and suggests instead a Christian ecclesiastical observance that did not yet exist in the first century.
The Etymology Problem
The English word “Easter” is thought to be derived from the name of a Teutonic goddess of spring, Eastre, and to have been adapted by Christians to its present usage about the 8th century after Christ.[1] Easter became attached by association of ideas to the Christian festival of the resurrection, which happened at the time of the Passover.[3] Substituting this pagan-derived term for the Hebrew festival name fundamentally alters the theological resonance—replacing a term laden with redemptive history with one freighted with post-biblical ecclesiastical development.
The Translator’s Inconsistency
The occurrence of “Easter” in Acts 12:4 is chiefly noticeable as an example of the want of consistency in the translators, as in earlier English versions Easter had been frequently used as the translation of pascha, but at the last revision Passover was substituted in all passages but this one.[3] This suggests the Acts translator operated on different principles than those responsible for other portions of the New Testament, choosing what seemed familiar rather than what was most accurate.
[2] Tremper Longman III, Peter Enns, and Mark Strauss, eds., in The Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2013), 466.
[3] Alexander J. Schem, “Easter,” in Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1891), 3:12.
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