Shew: A False Friend You'll Love

[@johnuitdeflesch3593]

Years ago I told our church that communion was a picture or visual display of the Lords death. The text I used was this text. I didn’t realize I had it wrong until I read the SKJV where they said “declare”. It is an audible speech idea and not a visual eye idea. Your warning about English only exegesis is spot on. When someone doesn’t know the 100 false friends exist, and then hands a KJV to a English only preacher, tell him it’s perfect, and other translations and lexicons are evil and should not be used at all, you are nigh guaranteeing false ideas will be taught as God’s truth. We cannot keep imagining that accuracy and readability are somehow separate categories to be pitted against one another. They are both vital and they overlap in certain ways.

[@markwardonwords]

Right, John! Exactly!

[@wepreachchrist6685]

Amen! Your anecdote is a challenge to me as a preacher to be even more careful to exegete the word responsibly. Or, to say it another way, to "study" to interpret and teach the word properly. I'll let you decide which sense of "study" is intended.

[@tony.biondi]

Thank you for taming the shew.

[@markwardonwords]

You’re welcome ;)

[@debras3806]

Thank you for shewing us these truths😊!

[@candicepierce5726]

Another false friend exposed. I’m glad you have put all this work into helping us stand up for using multiple translations to appreciate God’s Word.

[@markwardonwords]

Amen!

[@kaltech04]

Pausing and answering: I pronounce it as "show" in my head and as far as I know it means essentially the same thing as our modern "show."

[@thetickedoffpianoplayer4193]

I've always thought it was KJV for show. Hearing it said as shoe makes my skin crawl and makes me thankful I'm in CSB now.

[@tgleo1]

This is one of your best videos. Not only is this a poster-child false friend, but your stepping through the analysis is thoughtful and really compelling. And this word's appearance in 1 Cor 11:26 - part of a pericope we all have heard more times than any other, apart from the Lord's prayer - means *everybody* who has ever heard the words of institution from the KJV knows they didn't know they didn't know this false friend.

[@stormythelowcountrykitty7147]

Agreed

[@genewood9062]

Brother Mark: A few months ago, I wanted to know the old pronunciation of a word. I searched on the Internet. Found my word in a poem by Shakespeare. He had used it in a rhyme with a word still in common use today. So I took that as my best clue.

[@BlisterBang]

?? You didn't say that the word was "shew". Was that the word, or was it a different one? And what word was the rhyming word still in use today?

[@genewood9062]

@BlisterBang Hi. It was "TROTH". Brother Mark mentioned it as a word of Middle English, used in the old wedding vow, "I plight thee my troth" [truth, etc.]. .... I found it in a poem by Shakespeare. He made it rhyme with OATH. ........ I just Googled "Middle English shew", and there is lots of info about it. Have fun!

[@wepreachchrist6685]

Now that I have gone looking for the "tell" sense of "shew," I have found it everywhere. Using LOGOS, I made a passage list with every occurrence of "shew" in the KJV. I am sorting them into either the "reveal, demonstrate, show, to make known visually" sense or the "tell, proclaim, to make known verbally" sense (also a third category for a few hard, tricky, or unclear passages). So far, I have found 97 verses that use the "visual" sense and 92 passages that use the "verbal" sense. I have 251 verses yet to go! Here are a couple of my favorite examples so far that so simply confirms the truth of Dr. Ward's argument. Eze 33:31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. Eze 43:10 KJV Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. NKJV“Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. NASB95“As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the plan. ESV“As for you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. NIV“Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider its perfection, CSB“As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. Let them measure its pattern, From the context as well as the clear sense of the underlying Hebrew "shew" in Ez. 43:10 means to "describe using words".

[@MarkDavys]

One of the responses in Morning and Evening Prayer in the English 1662 Prayer Book is, 'And our mouth shew forth thy praise.' It is, in my experience, always said or sung 'show' (or something very close) in this context in England.

[@markwardonwords]

It does seem very likely to me that that is a false friend. I feel less certain when I don't have Hebrew or Greek to triangulate between contemporary and Elizabethan Englishes.

[@IamGrimalkin]

@@markwardonwords It's a quotation from psalm 51: 15 , so you do. Also, the BCP is heavily inspired by the old Latin prayer book, so Latin is another source you can look at. It seems this is the case here too, the latin is: "Et os meum annuntiábit laudem tuam.".

[@Lulu11six]

I'm not going to comment. I'm not going to comment... I'm not going to.... I really love watching your channel because, though I have some treasured KJV Bibles, I own them for purely sentimental reasons. I haven't spent any amount of time actually trying to read it. So watching your channel is a great insight into the world of bible translations and how words were and were not used to express God's truth. I have never heard of the word "Shew" and at first glance, it reminded me of the past tense word for "sheer". Which is obviously not the case, but there's what it made me think of. Thanks for your hard work, Mark! ...comment. I'm not going to comment. I'm not going to comment.

[@markwardonwords]

HA! GOT YOU! My mind control worked!

[@redsorgum]

Thanks for shewing us the differences….😉😘

[@PaulSenni]

Hey Mark, thank you so much for the video. I recently took some advice to read through the KJV just to see some nuances in the bible. Since I started doing this these false friends have become so much more apparent. Good thing is I'm using a Thomas Nelson verson with cross-reference and footnotes that do a good job at trying to 'shew' some modern translations to the words. Thank you so much for this. I have been watching your videos for a while but recently I've found how serious this matter actually is. I don't know if you've already done a video on this, but here is a false friend that has kept poping up in my study: 'conversation' which means 'conduct' although sometimes it does mean 'conversation' like 'communication'. Once again, thank you and God bless you. 😊

[@tinybibles]

Really enjoyed this one. You showed us the word!

[@markwardonwords]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@DanOrcutt723]

Wow, that is surprising, and in all these years nobody who preached to me from the KJV ever pointed out that distinction 🧐 Thank you for this lesson, Mark!

[@markwardonwords]

My pleasure!

[@AndreaWhoGoesByAndrea]

I think just about everyone in my little Baptist church pronounces it "shoe". I did, too, until I started watching Mark Ward videos.

[@dustinburlet7249]

This video is fantastic - 'mind control' - 100 false friends is a fantastic rubric - can't wait to see you reach your target

[@HelloFromSaints]

I was listening while driving, so I couldn't pause and comment, but I promised myself that I would come back. I have pronounced it like shoe and assumed it meant show.

[@markwardonwords]

Thank you, Justin! This seems to be a more common response than I expected-more people say "shoo" than I thought.

[@simonskinner1450]

Thanks for revealing "shew" as the Great Commission is about teaching only, as "rightly divide" also is rightly share or teach the truth, not Dispensationalism.

[@KevinDay]

In Bible quizzing once, at the first quiz of the year, a quizzer pronounced it like "show" in a quotation question, and a volunteer judge shook his head at the quiz master, who came over to see why the judge thought the quizzer missed it. The judge said, "It's 'shoo'." I couldn't hear the response, but the quizzer was counted correct. Which is good, because I had been pronouncing it that way as it looked to me like an obvious archaic spelling of "show" with a now-rare vocalization of "-ew" which remains common only in our modern word, "sew."

[@BlisterBang]

Thank you for that reference to "sew", I hadn't thought of that at all!

[@Moqlnkn]

It's kind of disturbing to me that knowing the correct pronunciation of an obsolete word counts as a "Bible quiz." That information is entirely useless, unless you're exclusively using the KJV.

[@KevinDay]

@Moqlnkn You have no idea. I know way more about the Bible now than I ever did in quizzing. I learned how to actually *read* it instead of memorizing the microscopic details.

[@SimplyProtestantBibleBeliever]

This one blew my mind when I found it some time ago! This and “will” (John 8:44; 1 Tim. 5:11; Heb. 12:17) are pretty much impossible to discern many times, when it’s the obsolete sense or the current sense without Greek and modern translations. My pastor always always always pronounced it “shoo” and not with the proper pronunciation. I would always flip flop between the two until I saw your video on its pronunciation some years back.

[@timmyholland8510]

I remember my old man would say shew, on occasion, when meaning show. He seemed to pick it up from his family from the hills of Alabama area.

[@CalebRichardson]

I’ve taken shew in 1 Cor 11:26 to be the same as our word show. I pronounced it as show too. I interpret it to mean that we demonstrate, re-enact an image of his death when we take the supper.

[@CalebRichardson]

Ha, I forgot I sent this suggestion in, even after your intro! 5:30 is exactly how I took it.

[@markwardonwords]

This is so funny, because I've done the same sort of thing! I've done a whole video on a false friend and then forgotten what I concluded!

[@samuelmifflin2638]

Since you were so adamant 😂 My church taught me it's always pronounced like "show" and depending on the context I've thought it could either mean "show" or maybe "prove"

[@Moxierx]

And also, the "Table of Shewbread" in the tabernacle.

[@markwardonwords]

Ooh. I wonder…

[@BiblebelievingChristian1270]

@@Moxierx exactly...that's another one that I looked at hundreds of times.

[@clintd3476]

FYI, Europeans run on 220-240volts instead of our 110-120v.

[@milburndrysdale9698]

All right! The squint did it, even though I'm driving! I think it's pronounced shew & if it doesn't mean show, then I'll check a modern translation. Now I'm pressing play & getting both hands back on the wheel!

[@KateGladstone]

The spelling “shew” (which was actually common in the UK until sometime in the 20th century) was and is pronounced just as we in the USA pronounce “show.””Show,” a spelling introduced into dictionaries by Noah Webster, is one of a few of his that eventually spread transatlantically. (Among the few other Websterisms that actually spread to England - instead of just staying in the USA like most of them - are “wagon” and “public”: which used to be “waggon” and “publick” in England, ‘way down into the 19th century.)

[@markwardonwords]

Good call.

[@olddog173]

Good video.. thanks, Mark .

[@davet2625]

As you say, sometimes the context will positively indicate the definition, but sometimes it won't and you'll be likely led to receive it as meaning the word it looks and sounds like (in this case 'show'). (I suppose there's another subtlety involved too in that sometimes one can 'show' something verbally. I think I would be justified in saying that on the road to Emmaus Jesus 'showed' the two disciples how the Scriptures pointed to himself. He didn't do a pantomime but his verbal explanation and elucidation was still a 'showing' - a revealing, a demonstration. So 'showing' doesn't necessarily involve a physical display in that sense).

[@melora-on-harp]

I remember looking this up once (in Miriam Webster, I think) and I’m pretty sure “shew” was listed as the British spelling of “show” with the same pronunciation.

[@rosslewchuk9286]

The pull of contemporary meanings on my mind just adds to the difficulty of reading Elizabethan English. However, I still love the KJV, especially the Psalms, but I keep my NKJV right there with it for clarity. My carrying Bible is the NKJV, tor the sake of the lost or unchurched I may encounter. The WEB, and Boyd's and Pickering's New Testament translations are also very helpful. Thanks for your hard work!😊👍📖🙏

[@cjstev1]

I’ve said it like “show”. Also, this is one of the most helpful false friends in my opinion. I’ve heard so many points made about showing by actions- which is true and needed! But just not being said in that passage

[@richardvoogd705]

Even the word "tell" has the potential to trip us up when it is used in the sense of counting, much as might happen when talking about bank tellers. Be that as it may,.........

[@williamragle1608]

We typically pronounced it as shew, not show in my old church. And I seem to recall someone made it a point that show and shew weren't the same and they may have even explained what shew meant a time or two. Although for the average person in the pew, myself included, just because I knew there was a difference didn't mean I could articulate it or even meaningfully remembered. All I knew was that it was important to pronounce it differently because it was different. The person who explained the difference was likely my BJU graduate pastor who retired after 41 years in the ministry. He was relatively sharp with the Greek when compared to many other KJVO pastors.

[@timotimy254]

Hello Mark, I love all the content on your channel. What do you think about BSB? I have been using it and it sounds like ESV perfected!

[@Yesica1993]

Ha ha. * pauses video at 1:32 * I'm pronouncing it in my head as "show", but with heavy, "posh", Queen Elizabeth accent: "she-oh", with the strong W sound. Guessing means something along the lines of demonstrate or illustrate? Okay, will the video continue to play now? I'm afraid to continue.

[@theophilusmann7869]

Paused video to find an existing comment to agree with. Thanks. Unpausing video.

[@Yesica1993]

@@theophilusmann7869 Ha!

[@natefremont]

I did it even before you squinted, btw. You don't need to tell me twice.

[@KyleSletten]

And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise. O Lord shew thy mercy vpon vs. Proclaim? Bestow?

[@benanderson4118]

This comment is from when you told us to pause the video. Although I don't often preach from the KJV, I've always pronounced "shew" the same as the modern "show" simply for the best comprehension. Checking online, it seems that the British pronunciation is "show" and the American is "shoe." Since King James was British, I guess I'll stick with the British. After your video: This is an interesting false friend. I did a search in Logos using Top Bibles for "show OR shew". In many places the current English translations use show where KJV uses shew. In others they use a different word such as proclaim or tell to better reflect a different Greek word..

[@duranbailiff5337]

About a fifth of the people I grew up pronounced the word like SHOE. the other four fifths pronounced it as SHOW. With time, less and less people pronounced it in the former. I moved on from the KJV about six years ago, so I don't encounter that term very often now. Progress- Onward and Upward, with Mark-Ward! Btw, I will miss your KJV videos that are scheduled to cease before Christmas. Perhaps after a sabbatical, you will consider making occasional installments.

[@jessehudson1611]

Great video. Im a greek geek. Logos has changed my life.

[@markwardonwords]

Yeah, man!

[@thedanielsturgeon]

I paused at 1:28-you got me! I would probably read it to rhyme with ‘show’, and I probably wouldn’t have thought it meant anything different until you read those examples. I guess it’s still got the meaning ‘show’, but maybe more in the sense of a ‘showroom’ - ‘to show, to display, to set forth for others to see’. That’s my best guess.

[@JoWilliams-ud4eu]

I assumed show. That's just how my Dad always read it

[@wepreachchrist6685]

I assumed it to be merely an alternate spelling of "show" and therefore pronounced, defined, and used identically. I am curious to discover the truth or error of my presumption!

[@peterbirdsall524]

"Shew" was on my list of words to look up. I have no idea how to pronounce it or what it means. That's why I'm watching your video. 😂

[@danab398]

It usually makes sense to me to read shew in most cases as “display”. Like an outward display of something. I’m looking forward to what you have on this false friend, Mark. 😊

[@markwardonwords]

Good guess! What do you think now that you’ve watched the video?

[@salvadaXgracia]

I would think it would be pronounced like shoe rather than show but would assume it meant the same as our show like to visually demonstrate.

[@losthylian]

Ugh, fine, the power of squints compels me. I probably would have pronounced it "shoo", but have heard a few, including you, pronounce it "sho". I guess that is probably correct. Since I am an NKJV user, I believe the word means "declare" in these cases. I can see some connection between the two. "Show your work" on a math problem is really about explaining yourself, rather than a practical demonstration. And when it comes to a conclusion I've made, I can "show you what I mean" just by explaining my logical steps I've taken. However, "show, don't tell" does pretty firmly show that we consider these opposite ideas!

[@SteveStuff]

I think it means SHOW. I first saw it in reference to the tabernacle and the table of shewbread.

[@stephendubarry6260]

Great video! I suspect the "ew" in "shew" would be pronounced the same as the "ew" in "sew".

[@hotwax9376]

I always assumed it was pronounced the same as "shoo" and "shoe," but I never would've guessed it was a false friend. On a related note, I remember as a kid seeing people play rock, paper, scissors and say the name of the game followed by "shoot," and I misheard it as "shoe," as in, "rock, paper, scissors, shoe." I always wondered what the shoe did and how you'd represent it with your hand. (My best guess on the former is that shoe would beat everything else because shoes step on rock, paper and scissors.) I also mistakenly thought early on the rock referred to rock music. Needless to say, I always preferred it when people just counted to (or from) three when playing that game, though I might also do "Ready, set go." Before you end your videos on KJV Onlyism, I want to ask you if the word "soul" is ever a false friend in the KJV. I was raised Seventh-day Adventist, and for those who don't know, they deny the immortality of the soul and use Genesis 2: 7 to to claim that a soul can only exist with a physical body plus physical breath. In that verse, the KJV days Adam became a "living soul" after that, but most modern translations day "living being" or "living creature." I wonder if the KJV was using "soul" in the sense of a person, much like we do today in phrases like "don't tell a soul" or "poor unfortunate souls."

[@richardvoogd705]

I was married to a Seventh-day Adventist pastor's kid for nearly 30 years and was aware of their take on the immortality (or otherwise) of the soul, and agree with your comment about using the word soul in the sense of person. I decided early on that I wasn't obliged to agree with them on everything.

[@karenduncan6004]

I've always heard and said "show."

[@lindamascioli4518]

The word shew is pronounced like shoe and some of its meanings: to establish or validate, to guide, to cause something to be seen, to explain, to accord favor. As an Anglican the sacraments are an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. So to shew in the first example used in 1 Corinthians: would mean taking the outward sign ( bread and wine) ;and the inward grace is the (body and blood of Christ). However one understands what is occurring in the eucharist--we call a mystery and leave it to the Believer to grow into--or allow the action and practice of the Eucharist to shew the Believer.

[@markwardonwords]

Good guess! What do you think now that you’ve watched the video?

[@Goldberg1337]

I always assumed it was pronounced the same as the modern English "show." HP Lovecraft (of all people) always writes the word "show" in the olde English way in his writings - presumably as some sort of affectation.

[@kainech]

Also, I have another false friend suggestion: "preach." It translates κηρύσσω, which is much more like "herald," to announce a message for an official or king. Our English "preach" has come to mean a message given by a minister in a church. When John the Baptist appeared in Judea "preaching," he was not simply moralizing. He was announcing a message concerning a coming king. "Preach" does not carry this meaning.

[@josiahsimeth3681]

I pronounce it like show. My inclination is to treat it the same, but context made me see it more like proclaim, tell, describe, explain.

[@markwardonwords]

Nailed it! How did you know that when I didn't? Seriously, I'm asking.

[@josiahsimeth3681]

I think it's firstly that "you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" is what echos in my head when I hear the first passage.Then there's the two Acts passages, both of which seemed to be about telling or explaining. I would not have gotten any of that from the Matthew example. (There's also always the possibility that the context of a video on false friends makes me guess things I wouldn't otherwise guess)

[@ellenchapman9981]

Shew - show. I always thought it was to display in the sense of proving something to be true.

[@ChristianityOntheBottomShelf]

Probably because H.P. Lovecraft used "shew" where everyone else would use "show," I pronounce it show. I would say that in the KJV context (which considerably precedes Lovecraft - 1890-1937 🙂), it has the idea of revealing, manifesting, depicting. Specifically in the context of the Lord's Supper I would say it's indicating that the Supper is a *tupos* of Christ's death, a representation of it. And before I restart the video I'll check the LSB, which is right here by me... and it has "proclaim," which is in the same vein as what I just said. Now back to you. 🙂 Totally beside the point of the video 🙂, the blackletter font you're using is I believe the most readable I've ever seen. It's so clear and plain that it doesn't stumble me a-tall. 🙂

[@Jolene03]

I always pronounced it "show" and assumed it also meant. . .show. . .? (Haven't finished watching the video so I have no idea what I might be getting wrong 😬) Edit: now that I'm at the end of the video. . . OH. MY. WORD. What else don't I know, for Pete's sake?! I legit just thought it was a weird spelling! Like "stedfast" instead of "steadfast". . . .or is it REALLY "steadfast"? I am questioning everything now 😳😳 lol Seriously though, thanks for shedding light on that! This is why I'm so incredibly glad for my ESV and other modern translations, even though I primarily read out of KJV (old habits 😉)

[@BiblebelievingChristian1270]

I don't pronounce it as "show" I always pronounced it as "shew" same way we say "shewing gum". Thank you brother Mark. 🥰🙏🙏

[@stephengray1344]

That's pretty much how I instinctively assume it should be pronounced (though I didn't grow up on the KJV). That said, I wouldn't be surprised if it was pronounced "show" in 1611, the great vowel shift means that most English words have changed pronunciation since then.

[@BiblebelievingChristian1270]

@stephengray1344 yes I agree. I wonder how many other words we didn't notice in the KJV that we took for granted.

[@candicesmith8543]

Funny how people say, "look, I have to tell you something." Why don't they say, "listen" rather than "look"?

[@ianholloway3778]

Having now watched the video I likewise still haven't looked anything up but in England we have town called Shrewsbury. The natives call it Shroosb'ry. In other parts of the country, certainly, us southerners, we say Shro-sbry. So accent and dialect seems to allow for both in our relatively small country, and I guess with shew the o sound won out somehow and the spelling changed accordingly, maybe with a bit of help from printers based in the south of England?

[@davidgreen1517]

The mind control worked. Shew I would pronounce as "show" and I always assumed it meant the same thing, though seeing it in the context of the verses you presented makes me think it might mean something like "proclaim."

[@markwardonwords]

Nailed it.

[@davidgreen1517]

​@@markwardonwords To be fair, I think I also subliminally recognized a few of those verses from reading/preaching from the ESV the last few years in which that word is "proclaimed," so my brain inserted that automatically.

[@jessehood3653]

I've never been sure how to say it. I would say "show" out loud because "shew" sounds like "shoo," but in my head I could never decide how to think the sounds. I always took it to mean the same as our word "show."

[@annagaiser5186]

Okay, you win. I paused the video. Before you read the other examples I would have thought shew meant show. Now I'm thinking it means "proclaim".

[@markwardonwords]

Yup!

[@EustaceClarence]

I always assumed this to mean show, and pronounce it the same way. However, the first verse you brought up makes me wonder... I'll keep watching.

[@markwardonwords]

Good guess! What do you think now that you’ve watched the video?

[@EustaceClarence]

@@markwardonwords I agree with you. One question I have whenever I see these videos is whether or not the word is a false friend every time it occurs, or not. I am also wondering if you think there should be any more completely new bible translations, not related to the KJV. I've noticed that revisions tend to let false friends stick around longer.

[@markwardonwords]

@@EustaceClarence Scrubb, my false friends are not always false friends every time they occur. And I think most serious revisions of the KJV catch the vast majority of them.

[@nerdyyouthpastor8368]

Prior to coming across your excellent channel, always pronounced "shew" like "shoe" 👠 and assumed it meant precisely the same thing as "show" does today. I think I remember learning from you that it pronounced "show." However, until I came across the title of this video, I never considered that it might be a false friend.

[@markwardonwords]

I actually shot another video on this word a few years ago without realizing it was a false friend!

[@MichaelGAubrey]

I believe that the pronunciation of the vowels was a glide/diphthong from [ε] to [u]. You can still here a version of that glide in many British English phonologies.

[@markwardonwords]

Very interesting. What sources what I go to for establishing this, Mike?

[@MichaelGAubrey]

That's a good question. I'm not sure. I know it because I've heard David Crystal pronounce the word in the context of Shakespeare pronunciation at some point years ago.

[@tnowandthen-t8t]

It's "show" and the word means to DECLARE something, or make a public presentation. Proclaim. A Swiss friend of mine (who also speaks Spanish and Portuguese) says that it's equivalent to, "ye do erect a monument". "un monumento." It's both a remembrance and a declaration. It's a testimony.

[@alisonk3148]

I pronounce it show. I’ve always thought of it as synonymous with show, but the context in the verses you shared makes me think it’s something closer to proclaim or tell.

[@DrGero15]

I pronounce it as show, but thanks to my Appalachian upbringing it sounds like shoe anyway. I don't think "show" is in the AV anywhere, that and other evidence tells me it is a spelling difference like labour & labor &c. It's meaning is; to make known, mostly verbally, rather than visually. It is even still used up here in the mountains that way. "Let me show you about it" and even in more modern places as "Let me show you what is going to happen when X..."

[@VeronicaM-r8o]

Scary squinting sealed the deal! I pronounce it so it rhymes with dew and I believe it means show.

[@danielfilan8056]

I would pronounce it like the word "shoe" (but have never heard it said out loud). My first guess was that it meant "show", but after the examples and knowing it's supposed to be a false friend I might guess it's "declare" or something.

[@EricCouture315]

"Shew" i understand it to mean demonstrate, like "showing" something to someone

[@markwardonwords]

✔

[@stevegroom58]

Ok, ok, I’ll do it! I thinks it’s just “show” and I’ve always just sort’ve made that work in my mind. AND, I’ve called that good enough and pressed right on, just like blowing through an appeal to pause a video . . .

[@markwardonwords]

Ha! Right!

[@BrendaBoykin-qz5dj]

SHOW!!!!=to exhibit/display 🌟🌹🔥🌹🌟

[@markwardonwords]

Good guess! What do you think now that you’ve watched the video?

[@BibleVersionConspiracy]

No no wait I'll pause it 😂 i've always pronounced it show

[@fnjesusfreak]

I took "show" as in "demonstrate". (Proclaim is how I translated it.) I have been, for some time, using the "show" pronunciation. Also, I think I've seen signs of "shew" into the 20th century ("tickets must be shewn") when googling.

[@jeremiahdewey8291]

This is the first time that I did what you have asked us to do for a false friend. I have stopped the video and am answering it before I watch to the end. "Shew" is the British (archaic) spelling of "Show" and both are pronounced the same "Sho" (which may explain why we Americans, thanks Noah Webster, changed the spelling). As for the meaning, Merriam-Webster (which is what I use because I have full access to) gives the following definitions:a demonstrative demonstration, a spectacle, and the archaic definition of outward appearance. Looking at several, but not all, instances, it seems like the current definitions are what is meant, not the listed archaic meaning.

[@markwardonwords]

Love this! What do you think now that you’ve watched the video?

[@jeremiahdewey8291]

@@markwardonwords after hearing your explanation, I looked further down MW's definitions and found that they include two that are similar to tell (I paste them in the next comment). I do agree that this idea of telling fits better in these contexts than to physically demonstrate, but showing, even in our modern English can carry the meaning of speaking, as in "to show cause," in reference to a legal argument. MW does not list these meanings as archaic, but they are definitely not what first comes to our modern readers' minds and are far less common. Thanks for your work!

[@jeremiahdewey8291]

@@markwardonwords Merriam-Webster's other definitions as related to speaking/telling: : to set forth : DECLARE -used especially in law To show cause to demonstrate or establish by argument or reasoning show a plan to be faulty : INFORM, INSTRUCT

[@daytonmorehead7330]

I’ve always pronounced it as ‘show’ i.e. with a long O.

[@Ann-LeeNessa]

I personally have always read it as 'shew', exactly what it looks like. Like shrew without the r.

[@lrwilliamsjr]

I've pronounced it like 'shoe' and assumed it was an archaic spelling of 'show' (i.e., to present, demonstrate, reveal, or offer something for scrutiny or examination)

[@markwardonwords]

Good guess! What do you think now that you’ve watched the video?

[@mrrobertfacehead]

I pronounce it as shoe in my head but say show out loud when reading since in think it just means show

[@ibuythose4309]

Alright brother since you insisted, I'll do it. Shew means to show. Demonstrate, present. Etc.

[@markwardonwords]

Good guess! What do you think now that you’ve watched the video?

[@ibuythose4309]

I'm not KJVO myself, but I enjoy the videos. You've taught me how to present the truth to my KJVO brothers better. I definitely did not know this one, but I'm glad I caught it. Thank you!

[@ibuythose4309]

I go to a KJVO church. Btw

[@ds-sb4rf]

Okay you got me on the second one 😂 Show…long O…meaning more along the lines of “to tell”?

[@bman5257]

I’m going to guess shew means proclaim, because I’m Catholic and in the Eucharistic Prayer we sometimes sing 1 Cor 11:26 or a prayer based off of 1 Cor 11:26 “When we eat This Bread, and drink This Cup, we proclaim your death O Lord, until you come again.” For the pronunciation my original guess is like our show, but since your asking I’m going to guess it’s more like shoe. Edit: Spelling, I promise I didn’t change my answer.

[@markwardonwords]

You nailed it!

[@MaltonPsmith]

Ok fine the squint actually worked lol Shew pronounces like it reads, not like modern “show”. But I was under the impression (prior to seeing the title) that it was just a cognate of show and had the same meaning as show. I’m guessing I’m about to be wrong.

[@codyheisler]

I grew up in KJO churches, and I always believed "shew" was just an old English spelling of the word "show" meaning to display.

[@matthewpilch2264]

Go shew it on the mountain! 🤓

[@markwardonwords]

Ha, yes!

[@rbstr44]

Okay, okay! I left a 👍, but that doesn’t appear to be enough for some content creators🤔-so, I’m leaving a comment, too, due to apparent KZbin feedback inflation. Best wishes in your boosting your numbers. Now, I’m going back to the video. 😁

[@DrJulianNewmansChannel]

Paused the video to comment, in accordance with your mind control: I’ve always assumed that “shew” is just the old spelling for the modern “show”, like “cloke” is for “cloak” [unless I’m wrong there too], and that the meaning had broadly the same essence as it has today (demonstrate, reveal, manifest), but perhaps the finer subtleties of idiom might mean that we do not use it in certain ways that would have been used in older English even though the basic sense of it does still make sense there (e.g. it feels a bit odd as a modern English speaker to say that we are “showing” the Lord’s death until He comes, but I still picture in those words the idea that we are “carrying out a visible act that draws attention to” the Lord’s death, which is still in essence what the word “show” is about).

[@DrJulianNewmansChannel]

Now having watched the whole video: Very interesting! The “shew judgment to the Gentiles” seems particularly misleading to me; the phrase “show mercy” means to actually act mercifully (I guess because thereby the recipient sees that mercy has been enacted), and so I might naturally have imagined that “show judgment” means to actually act in accordance with judgment (whether that be in the sense of wise discernment or in the sense of warranted retribution). To “proclaim judgment” has quite a different sense!

[@carldebeer3679]

You broke me, I’ll do it 1:56 I’ve always pronounced it as show

[@markwardonwords]

And the meaning?

[@carldebeer3679]

@@markwardonwordsI definitely assumed it just meant show. Just finishing the video now. Thanks again for such great help with these issues!

[@parksideevangelicalchurch2886]

My guess is that it was pronounced shew and means to show forth, to demonstrate, to hold forth, to proclaim.

[@markwardonwords]

Good guess! What do you think now that you’ve watched the video?

[@parksideevangelicalchurch2886]

@@markwardonwords In all honesty, when I was regularly reading the KVJ years ago, "shew" = "show" and nothing else. Now that regularly read the ESV and NIV, I was drawing on my memory of those verses to guess the original 17th century meaning of 'shew' in the KJV verses you mentioned. The rest of the video was great though. I'm nerdy enough to find your explanations of the etymology and changes of meanings across the centuries really interesting. However, I know from experience that few people enjoy this kind of research. Thank you for all the good work you're doing and hopefully the minority of us nerds can continue to read the KJV with fascination and understanding and everyone else can understand God's word in language that they can understand without all the nerdy research.

[@reepicheepsfriend]

In my head I always pronounced it to rhyme with "few". But I guess I just thought it was another version of "show" after all, identical in meaning

[@BlisterBang]

Eh...yup, you're right. I didn't pause. I feel so guilty. ::SOB:: 8 ^ O OK! OK! Uh... rhymes with "shoe". Right? Also, winner of the daily-mixed metaphor award: "Firing on all one hundred and ten volts"

[@markwardonwords]

Someday I'd like to win every day for a year.

[@BlisterBang]

@@markwardonwords If I had a dime for every time I heard a mixed metaphor....eh, I'd have a dime.

[@annaliesewagner1070]

I always pronounced it "shoe" when reading the KJV, and until I saw that you made a False Friends video about it, I assumed it meant "show." However, now I'm wondering if it means something along the lines of "teach" based on the other verses you read. Ok... pressing play again!

[@markwardonwords]

What do you think after watching the video?

[@captainnolan5062]

"Show" is not the opposite of "tell" in English (See footnote 1). "Hide" would be the opposite of "show." Showing and telling are both ways revealing something, one is physical (showing it) and the other is verbal (telling about it). Think about "Show and tell" in grade school, you bring something to school, display it and then supplement the showing by telling (revealing) more information about the thing you are showing (displaying). Footnote 1: You state at 16:23 that tell is the opposite of show.

[@Moqlnkn]

Words can have multiple opposites. For example, short's opposites are both "Long" and "Tall." Consider Acts 11:13. "He ****ed us how he had seen an angel in his house." Putting the word "show" there does not make sense; it has to be "tell." You could also say "revealed to." In either case, you cannot simply replace "shew" with "show" in this context.

[@captainnolan5062]

@@Moqlnkn Yes, words can have multiple opposites, but show and tell are not opposites. They are both ways of revealing something (physical vs verbal). They are more like 'complimentary' words than opposites.

[@markwardonwords]

@captainnolan5062 That’s a good way to put it! I don’t disagree. I think for the purposes of drawing the distinction I’m after, they are distinct.

[@captainnolan5062]

@@markwardonwords They are indeed distinct (just not "opposites"). Great video!

[@ChristopherAlsruhe-si9ff]

I find that words that have a simpler meaning in today's English have a more dynamic meaning in 400-year-old English. Short of pulling out the 1828 Websters are pulling out the Greek or Hebrew,, we should consider the possibility that the simple word sitting there means something more, such as show meaning to illustrate or proclaim.

[@jimreem1693]

I have pronounced “shew” as “show” and always thought they meant the same, as do a variety of very popular dictionaries (Oxford; Cambridge; Merriam-Webster). So now I’m abundantly curious that it is labeled a false friend. Shew me the free candy already 😁