# Italics in the KJV

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italics-in-the-kjv/155439>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 16, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italics-in-the-kjv/155439 "2003-02-16T13:25:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italics-in-the-kjv/155439/1 "2003-02-16T13:25:58Z")

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At least I think it’s the King James Version of the Bible - not having one in the house, I’m not totally sure, but when I attended church as a child I remember passages like “And then _they_ went into the house of the Lord, and _when_ they there sat they _were_ filled with peace…” etc.

What do those italics mean? Why are they attached to such seemingly irrelevant words?

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italics-in-the-kjv/155439/2 "2003-02-16T13:30:12Z")

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IIRC, they were words that were not in the actual Hebrew or Greek texts, but added by the KJ translators to make a smooth translation.

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italics-in-the-kjv/155439/3 "2003-02-16T13:33:26Z")

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Thank you! 25 years of speculation wiped out with one post.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italics-in-the-kjv/155439/4 "2003-02-16T15:04:55Z")

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An earlier–and strangely, much longer–thread on this subject:

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=8097](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=8097)