Misinterpretation in KJV (XIV)

Hebrews 9:7 (King James Version)

But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

Hebrews 9:7 (New International Version)

But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

But

only

the

high

priest

entered

•

the

inner

room

,

and

that

δὲ2

μόνος8

ὁ9

ἀρχιερεύς10

←

•

εἰς1

τὴν3

δευτέραν4

←

•

•

de

monos

ho

archiereus

eis

tēn

deuteran

only

once

a

year

,

and

never

without

blood

,

which

he

offered

•

ἅπαξ5

τοῦ6

ἐνιαυτοῦ7

•

οὐ11

χωρὶς12

αἵματος13

ὃ14

→

προσφέρει15

hapax

tou

eniautou

ou

chōris

haimatos

ho

prospherei

for

himself

and

for

the

sins

the

people

had

committed

in

ὑπὲρ16

ἑαυτοῦ17

καὶ18

►22

τῶν19

ἀγνοημάτων22

τοῦ20

λαοῦ21

◄22

←

←

hyper

heautou

kai

tōn

agnoēmatōn

tou

laou

ignorance	.
←

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Heb 9:7.

Hebrews 9:7 represents a critical omission in the KJV where the translators simply dropped a crucial theological qualifier, fundamentally altering the scope and nature of the high priest’s atonement work. The passage should read that the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to offer sacrifice “for the sins the people had committed in ignorance,” yet the KJV renders it merely as “for the errors of the people,” stripping away the essential concept of ignorance.

The Theological Distinction

The Greek word agnoema, used only once in the New Testament, means literally an act of ignorance and refers to a sin of ignorance.[1] This distinction matters profoundly because a distinction is drawn between errors (agnoēmata) and crimes (harmartēmata)[2]—not all sins were equal in the sacrificial system. It regards sin in the mildest light possible without making excuses for it, referring to sins not especially meant to occur rather than open outright acts of rebellion.[1]

The KJV’s omission of the ignorance qualifier obscures this crucial theological category. By rendering the passage without specifying that these were sins committed unknowingly, the translation loses the essential framework distinguishing between unintentional transgressions and willful rebellion. This categorical distinction shaped Israel’s entire sacrificial theology.

The Nature of the Atonement

The high priest entered the Holy of Holies to offer sacrifice for “the sins the people had committed in ignorance,” and these errors apparently were such that the people were liable to punishment for them. This was willful ignorance—the people could have known the right course to follow, but chose not to know it.[3] The KJV’s rendering obscures this paradox: sins of ignorance that nonetheless carried culpability because the ignorance itself was culpable.

The broader theological implication is significant. Errors through ignorance are in the Bible distinguished from errors of the heart and wilful errors.[4] By omitting this qualifier, the KJV conflates categories that Scripture carefully separates, weakening the reader’s understanding of how the Levitical system addressed different grades of transgression and how Christ’s atonement encompasses both.

[1] Kevin J. Conner, Foundations of Christian Doctrine (Conner Ministries, 2022), 139.
[2] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933). [See here.]
[3] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 517.
[4] W. L. Walker, “Err, Error,” in The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, ed. James Orr et al. (Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company, 1915), 970.