Greek word - (kerusso G2784)
Quiz - Choose the answer that is closest to what you think PREACH is.
A - to deliver a sermon
B - to share
C - to speak publicly
D - to speak persuasively
Problem - Misleading
KJV Example - "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matthew 24:14).
Explanation
When you come across the word, preach, in the King James Version and most Bible versions, it is translating one of three Greek root words: kerusso, euaggelizo, and laleo.
Laleo is a common word in the New Testament (it appears 295 times), but it is only translated as preach six times. It means to speak and is usually translated as speak. It does not mean to preach.
Euaggelizo is the verb of gospel, preach the gospel. I have a separate lesson about it.
That leaves kerusso. A noun form of kerusso is kerux. Kerux is translated as preacher in the King James Version, but that is misleading because a kerux is a herald (someone sent out to read official documents to the public). Do you remember the story of Esther? It tells of certain rules being written up and sent out to all of the provinces of the empire. When these documents arrived in a province, the herald stood up in a public place and read the document to the people. This is what kerusso is.
It means to speak in public. It is the opposite of speaking in private, of speaking in a house, or of speaking in somenone's ear. It is speaking so that everyone can hear, usually outside.
This is not what preach means today. Preach means to give a sermon. It usually happens in a church, not outside. When you read the word, preach or preacher, you think it is religious. Kerusso does not carry this connotation with it.
Why is preach used for kerruso? Why is it used for laleo (to speak) or euaggelizo (to tell the good news)? Because hundreds of years ago preach meant something else. It meant to speak publicly.
Today it does not mean that. It has changed in meaning. The reader does not know this. When he reads the word preach in the Bible, he thinks it means to give a sermon. It doesn't. He is misled.
14 out of 50 Bible versions seem to have figured this out. They use proclaim instead of preach.
Kerusso is speaking in public. John the Baptist did it. Jesus did it. Paul did it. They spoke publicly to people about God.
In the Bible, preach is speak publicly.
Modern Synonym - to speak publicly
Bible Version Tally (how other versions translate this word) - preach (32 of 50), proclaim (14 of 50)
Breakthrough Version - "And this good news of the empire will be spoken publicly in the whole civilized world for a witness to all the non-Jews, and then the end will arrive" (Matthew 24:14).