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Is It Actually in the Bible?

Phrases people quote as Scripture. The real verse, or the honest answer that there is not one.

"He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief" (Romans 4:20) sounds like Abraham physically stumbled or tripped.

"Staggered" meant "hesitated/wavered," describing Abraham's faith holding firm, not his footing.

KJV word, meaning shifted
Romans 4:20

Romans 4:20, in every translation this tool compares.

What is actually going on

Modern translations render this "he did not waver through unbelief": the whole point of the verse is that Abraham, despite his and Sarah's age, didn't let doubt shake his confidence in God's promise.

"Stagger" in 1611 English already carried this figurative sense of wavering or hesitating in judgment or belief, not just the physical sense of an unsteady walk. The physical sense survived into modern English; the figurative one mostly didn't, which is why "staggered" here reads oddly today.

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