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Some Older Translations
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§256         So the skeptical reader will not doubt the literalness of the translation, "first of the Sabbaths," we will quote from some of the early translations of the Bible, made before the King James Version was written.
§257         The Coverdale Quarto Bible, 1537, translated Matthew 28:1 more accurately than the King James Version.  The translators put:

        On the evenynge of the Sabbath holy daye, which dawneth the marowe of the first day of the Sabbaths came Mary Magdalene [and] the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
§258         Notice the "evenynge of the Sabbath."    Hence, the evening of the Sabbath would be Friday night up to midnight or from noon to the end of the Sabbath.  The later evening (see below) in the afternoon is the between the evenings evening (when the evening sacrifice was made).  The words "which dawneth" point to the first evening, viz. the one beginning the Sabbath.  As we have said, the Resurrection was just before dawn on the Sabbath, which was in the morning
§258½         Coverdale's translation thus shows some confusion with the facts.  Nevertheless, Coverdale, no doubt, thought that the women went to the tomb on the afternoon of the Sabbath, or that it meant the evening beginning the first day of the week.  However, it is not possible to make "evenynge" refer to time after sunset ending the Sabbath, because then it would not be "evenynge of the sabbath," but of the first day of the week.  As we have shown, though, the correct translation is "And on the latter of the Sabbaths, at the dawning for the first of the Sabbaths ..." (Matthew 28:1).  See §§ 246-255.
§259         The interval marks the possible range of the Resurrection (see figure).  The "day of the Sabbaths," of course, is the Sabbath day.  And the "first day of the Sabbaths" is the first Sabbath day following Passover which the Jews counted of the seven Sabbaths in Leviticus 23:15.
§260         The Coverdale Quarto Bible translates the other passages in like manner:
        But upon one of the Sabbathes (Luke 24:1).
§261         This text sounds just like saying "a Sabbath," and in fact the Greek word for "one," like the English "one," can function as the indefinite article "a."  Coverdale translates John 20:1 as "on one day of the Sabbath," John 20:19 as "The same Sabbath at even," (This would be the second evening in the afternoon, see Fig. 24) Acts 20:7 as "Upon one of the Sabbaths," and 1 Cor. 16:2 as "some Sabbath daye."
§262 Coverdale's translations are remarkably consistent.  He translates the Greek word sabbatwn as Sabbaths every time he comes to it.  No doubt, he understood the word as refering to the first day of the week, because it was widely believed that Sunday was the new "Sabbath," because the Latin Vulgate, out of which these early translators worked also identified the Resurrection day as "Sabbath."
§263 But the Coverdale Bible is not just an anomaly.  John Wycliffe also translates literally:
"Therefore whanne euentid was in that day, oon of the sabotis" (John 20:19), and "day of saboth" (Acts 20:7).
§264 Wycliffe was not as consistent as Coverdale.  Most often Wycliffe put the word "week" for the commmon Greek for Sabbath, but in the two examples above, he translates literally.
§265         Tyndale puts:
        "On a Saboth daye" (Acts 20:7), and "In some saboth daye" (1 Cor. 16:2).
§266         Elsewhere, he put the first day of the week.  Why?  The Greek in the Resurrection passages is the same as in Acts 20:7 and very close to 1 Cor. 16:2.  We can only suppose that he allowed tradition to overrule what the texts were really saying.
§267         The Rheims version (1582) has "first of the Sabboth[s]" in all of the critical passages, i.e. Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; and 1 Cor. 16:2.
§268         The 1568 Bishop's Bible also translates literally, "first day of the Sabbaths," in Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19.  In Acts 20:7 they have, "one of the Sabboth," and "some Sabboth" in 1 Cor. 16:2.
§269         These later two translations were official translations.  They were not one man works done in a closet.  This is not to say one man cannot do a good job.  But it does show that the translations were not considered incorrect at the time they circulated.
§270         This sampling of translations should convince the reader of the correct reading, or at least of the literalness of the translation.  I say "sampling" because there are many more translations in other languages which put the text down literally.  Sad to say, most people manage to interpret their way out of the obvious conclusion in spite of this.  It shows that for most Christians, tradition is of greater power than God's written word.
§271         Nevertheless, the texts do say the Resurrection was on the "first of the Sabbaths."  According to Leviticus 23:15, the "first Sabbath" is the Sabbath immediately following the Passover rest day.  It was the first of seven Sabbaths counted until Passover:
        And ye shall count unto you  after the rest, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven complete rests  shall be; while on the side of the morrow of the seventh rest continue counting fifty days.  (rest = sabbath).
§272         On the basis of this text many of the Jews enumerated the Sabbaths, as well as the days until Pentecost.  Modern Jews count 'weeks' as well as days, but this counting of weeks is actually a counting of the sabbaths that pass since the Passover since 'shabbatot' does not really mean 'weeks.'  The other passage (Deut. 16:9) is rather ambiguous, and can mean 'seven sevens,' or even 'seven sevenths,' as well as a 'period of seven days.'
§273         It is well worth noting that everywhere the phrase "first of the Sabbaths" occurs in some form in the Scripture, it always occurs in a context which indicates it is just after the Passover in accord with Leviticus 23:15, but before Pentecost.
§274         For example Acts 20:7 reads, "And on one of the Sabbaths," just after a Passover is mentioned in Acts 20:6.  Likewise, in 1 Cor. 16:2 the same phrase, "Upon the first of the Sabbaths,"  (this phrase is a bit more obscure though)  occurs just before Pentecost is mentioned in 1 Cor. 16:8.  And in the gospels, of course, the phrase occurs just after the Passover.  Hence all usages occur in context just after the Passover.
§274.1         Since I don't know much German, I will print these translations from a German Bible as well as I can.  Of course, the modern editions have changed "first of the sabbaths," to "first day of the week." §274.2        There is also Young's Literal Translation and the Concordant Version which render the Greek texts dealing with the resurrection literally.

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