Parable

Greek word - (parabole G3850)

Quiz - Choose the answer that is closest to what you think PARABLE is.
A - a simile
B - an illustration
C - a proverb
D - a story

Problem - Transliteration, Outdated

KJV Example - "Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower." (Matthew 13:18)

Explanation

In mid-thirteenth century English, parable was spelled p-a-r-a-b-o-l. It is a transliteration of the Greek word, parabole, the French word, parable, and the Latin word, parabola.

In Greek the word has two parts, para (alongside) and bole (what is thrown). So literally it means something that is thrown alongside of something else, a comparison, a juxtaposition.

The Greek verb form of this word is paraballo which is used twice in the New Testament. Once it is used with the noun, parable (Mark 4:30), and once it is used of a ship pulling in alongside an island (Acts 20:15).

The Greek leaves us with a very broad possibility of what parabole could be.

Looking at the way parabole is used in the New Testament narrows down what it is. It is a story, a saying, or a picture in which something is expressed in terms of something else.

What word should be used to translate parabole? The King James Version uses four different words: parable (46 times), comparison (once), proverb (once), and figure (twice).

Other Bible Versions use story, picture-story, simile, and explanation.

None of these work for all of the times parabole is used in the Bible because sometimes parabole is a story, sometimes it is a saying, and sometimes it is a picture. We need a single word that will work every time.

The translation that I have come up with is illustration. Jesus used parables, stories, sayings, and pictures as illustrations. He threw out these illustrations alongside a truth that He was talking about.

In the Bible, parable is illustration.

Modern Synonym - illustration

Bible Version Tally (how other versions translate this word) - parable (37 of 51), story (11 of 51), simile (1 of 51), picture-story (1 of 51), explanation (1 of 51)

Breakthrough Version - "So you must listen to the illustration of the one who seeds." (Matthew 13:18)