Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Nov. 19, 2025
Update	: Nov. 19, 2025
Parts	: 02

Synopsis:



While working on another article called "Ancient Languages and KJV Bible Translation", it occurred to me -- as it has also occurred to me on previous occasions -- that changing even one punctuation mark in a particular Bible verse can alter its meaning to a certain degree. In fact, changing a single punctuation mark can even alter a verse to a rather significant degree. For example, take the classic example of Luke 23:43 which states the following in the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible:

"And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."


Just as word capitalization was done in the KJV Bible based on the discretion of the translators, and the printing and publishing norms which existed during that time in history, punctuation was likewise done by the translators at their own discretion as well, influenced by the factors I discuss in the aforementioned article. But I do wonder if they got it exactly right in every single case. For example, with regard to Luke 23:43 above, which of the following two did Jesus actually say? Please notice the position of the comma before or after "To day" in the verse:

"Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be‭‭ with‭ me‭ ‭in‭‭ ‭paradise‭‭.‭"

"Verily I say unto thee To day, thou shalt be‭‭ with‭ me‭ ‭in‭‭ ‭paradise‭‭.‭"

You see, just moving that comma to a difference position in the verse can change the meaning of the verse entirely. Of course, a lot depends on how a person understands the word "paradise" in the verse as well. Now, according to Thayer's Greek-English lexicon, it's possible to understand the word "paradise" in the following different manners:

----- Begin Quote -----

‭‭1) among the Persians a grand enclosure or preserve, hunting ground, park, shady and well watered, in which wild animals, were kept for the hunt; it was enclosed by walls and furnished with towers for the hunters‭

‭‭2) a garden, pleasure ground‭

‭‭ 2a) grove, park‭

‭‭3) the part of Hades which was thought by the later Jews to be the abode of the souls of pious until the resurrection: but some understand this to be a heavenly paradise‭

‭‭4) the upper regions of the heavens.

According to the early church Fathers, the paradise in which our first parents dwelt before the fall still exists, neither on the earth or in the heavens, but above and beyond the world‭

‭‭5) heaven‭

----- End Quote -----

Based on "Paradise" meaning Heaven, if we accept the first position of the comma, the verse does not make much sense at all. Why not? Well, because it was impossible for that thief to be with Jesus in Heaven that same day, because not only did Jesus have to spend three days and three nights in the tomb first, but the Lord likewise had to go down and preach to the spirits in prison -- meaning the Fallen Angels who were chained in darkness -- as per the writings of both the Apostles Peter and Jude. I am of course referring to these rather interesting Bible verses:

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."


"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;"


"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."


On the other hand, if we accept the third definition of the word "Paradise" -- meaning a part of the underworld where pious souls were temporarily kept -- that sounds similar to Roman Catholicism's "Purgatory" -- the verse may still not seem to make a lot of sense to some people. Why not? Because the Lord's clear intention was to give the thief hope. Would telling him that he would be going to the underworld on that day give the man hope? Now, before you answer this question for yourself, please keep reading. On the other hand, if we move that comma to AFTER "To day" instead of before it, the verse could seem to make more sense. Consider this version:

"Verily I say unto thee to day, thou shalt be‭‭ with‭ me‭ ‭in‭‭ ‭paradise‭‭.‭"

In others words, with the comma in that position, the Lord could have actually said to the thief, "I am informing you today that you will be with me in paradise." Now, in this case, we could interpret that verse as meaning that Jesus was NOT telling the thief that he would be in Paradise that very same day. Rather, Jesus was simply saying that at some point in the future, the man would be with Him in Paradise, meaning in Heaven, according to the fifth definition above. Exactly how far into the future? Just read on and you will soon find out.

This second rendition of the verse seems to make more sense, because it allows Jesus to spend three days and three nights in the grave, and to descend to the Greek "phulake" -- that is to say, prison -- exactly as the Apostle Peter writes in his first Epistle. Furthermore, the thief could not possibly ascend anywhere that same day, because it would not be until three days later when Jesus would become the Firstfruits of the Resurrection, and the first begotten of the dead, just as we read in the following group of Bible verses:

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he [Jesus] might be THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN."


"But now is Christ risen from the dead, AND BECOME THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THEM THAT SLEPT. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: CHRIST THE FIRSTFRUITS; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming."


"Who is the image of the invisible God, THE FIRSTBORN OF EVERY CREATURE . . . And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, THE FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD; that in all things he might have the preeminence."


"To the general assembly and CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,"


"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the FIRST BEGOTTEN OF THE DEAD, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood . . . I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."


Thus, only then, AFTER Jesus himself had gloriously risen from the dead, could any other departed souls follow after Him into Eternal Life, and thus enter into Heaven. In fact, you may likewise remember that when Mary Magdalene first encountered Jesus following His resurrection from the dead, He specifically told Mary not to touch Him, because He had not yet ascended to His Father, as we can easily determine by these two Bible verses:

"Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."


Isn't that just wonderful and beautiful?! Jesus wanted to race Home to Heaven and be embraced by the loving arms of His own Father FIRST, before He would allow anyone on the Earth to touch Him. He probably wanted to say, "Father, I did it! I fulfilled Your Will! Now they are free from the penalty of sin, which is death, if they will simply choose to believe in me." Personally, I find that scenario to be extremely touching, don't you?

So to reiterate this important point, if we interpret the word "paradise" as actually meaning Heaven -- as opposed to referring to the underworld of the dead and the grave -- Jesus could NOT be saying to the thief on the cross that he would be with Him in Heaven on the very same day that they both died. This would seem to indicate that the comma may possibly be in the wrong position in the verse. But is it really? Not necessarily so. "What?! But Bill, you just said ..." I know, my friends, but I have not shared with you the final piece of this interesting puzzle just yet.

You will recall that a moment ago, we saw that according to later Jewish beliefs, Hades -- the spiritual underworld -- was divided into DIFFERENT SECTIONS. One section was for the pious who were awaiting for their resurrection, while on the other hand, there was also a section reserved for the wicked. So, assuming that the Jews already believed in a multi-tiered Hades during the First Century AD, then Jesus informing the thief that he would be with Him in Paradise that very same day was a good thing, and good news. In other words, all the thief had to do was wait in Paradise until Jesus himself had resurrected, and then the thief would be resurrected as well.

My friends, this would indeed give that thief on the cross great comfort and hope. In short, the comma may very well be in the correct place after all. The fact that the Lord would even mention Paradise -- or Hades -- to the thief, seems to indicate that such a place in the underworld of the dead was in fact real. In other words, Jesus' words seem to validate it. After all, prior to Jesus' resurrection from the dead, the departed souls of everyone who had ever lived -- going back all the way to Adam and Eve -- had to go somewhere to await either resurrection to Eternal Life, or resurrection to judgment, condemnation and damnation, right? I am also reminded of Bible verses such as the following:

"‭‭And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame ‭and‭ everlasting contempt."


"And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."


"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."


"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."


"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."


"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."


"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation."


"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"


"But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:"


"Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith."


"And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."


"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."


"That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."


So again, it seems that there had to be some location where departed souls who had already left the land of the living had to temporarily wait for their future judgment, because they could not yet rise up to Heaven, until AFTER Jesus had fulfilled His earthly mission, and had Himself resurrected FIRST. Furthermore, the existence of such a place where Old Testament believers waited for their resurrection is given added weight when we consider what the Angelic Messenger said to the Prophet Daniel, as we see by the following two Bible verses:

"And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end . . . But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days."


So the question in my mind is this: Exactly where did Daniel rest? While his body may have laid unconscious in the grave, is it just possible that his spiritual essence abode in that place which the Greeks referred to as Hades, and which the Jews called Paradise? I am likewise reminded of the incident involving the witch at Endor who raised up the Prophet Samuel at the behest of King Saul. As some of my readers will know, Saul foolishly defied the Lord and did that which was clearly forbidden by the Levitical Law, when he sought out the witch at Endor.

Before proceeding with the actual story concerning Saul and the witch at Endor, let me ask you an interesting question. If the prohibited arts -- meaning necromancy, spiritism and witchcraft were not even real -- or are not real even today? -- and were simply imaginary practices which actually had no real spiritual power, then why would the Lord even consider it necessary to give Moses specific laws which prohibited them, and which also severely punished people for engaging in those very same practices? Interesting question indeed.

According to the account which we find in the first Book of Samuel, King Saul was rather troubled regarding the war with the Philistines. Thus, he hatched the stupid idea of going to the witch at Endor, in the hope that she could help him to determine what the outcome of the war would be. Thus, he requested of the witch that she call up the departed spirit of the Prophet Samuel. This was due to the fact that Samuel had already died. As a result, Saul could no longer request direct counsel from the Prophet. And so, Saul went to this necromancer with the petition to raise up the Prophet Samuel from the realm of the dead. Consider the following group of verses which describe this event:

"And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David: Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines."


Personally, I believe that this was a very literal story. I will explain why I believe this in just a moment. Of course, there are those Christians who adamantly reject the account as being true. To the contrary, they erroneously claim that this witch did not really raise up the spirit of the Prophet Samuel. Supposedly, she simply pretended to do so. However, I do not agree with their conjecture. There are two reasons why I hold this particular position. For one thing, notice how surprised the necromancer was when Samuel's spirit was actually raised, and she was informed that the mysterious man was really King Saul. Someone who was simply faking it would not have reacted in this way, because they would have had complete control of the situation.

But there's an even more important reason why I'm personally convinced that the witch really did raise the spirit of the Prophet Samuel from the abode of the dead -- that is to say, from Hades, or Paradise -- and that the Prophet Samuel did in fact speak to a very frightened King Saul. That reason is found in the following Bible verse:

"And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them."


As we just read in the previous account from the first Book of Samuel, the Prophet Samuel very specifically told King Saul that he and his sons would die in battle the very next day, and then join Samuel in the underworld of the dead. As we know from the Scriptures, that is exactly what happened. In my view, there is simply no possible way that that evil woman could have known that, particularly if she was faking it. So that convinces me personally that it had to actually be the disembodied spirit of the real Prophet Samuel. Of course, you are free to disagree if you so like. I won't argue the point with anyone.

So as I hope you can see, this particular Bible incident about King Saul, the witch of Endor and the Prophet Samuel offers the perfect example regarding why the Jews believed that Paradise was actually a part of the underworld -- or Hades in Greek mythology -- where the spirits of the dead abode. As I have already made quite clear, until the Lord was resurrected from the dead and became the Firstborn of the Dead, it was simply not possible for others to be fully raised from the dead, except, of course, for those people who Jesus raised from the dead in the Gospels by the Power and very Authority of His very own Father. So the idea of a holding place or way station for departed spirits within the bowels of the Earth as both the Jews and Greeks clearly believed seems to have a strong degree of merit in my view. It is both a Scripturally and logically sound belief.

Returning for a moment to the issue of the placement of the comma in Luke 23:43, and the two versions of the verse I shared with you previously, it all really depends on which meaning of the word "paradise" we are willing to accept as being the correct one. If we accept the current position of the comma -- that is to say, before "To day" -- then a good section of Hades for the pious makes sense. However, if we accept the word "paradise" as actually meaning Heaven, then it would appear that the comma might be in the wrong place.

Personally, after conducting my own research, I do lean more towards the belief that the comma is exactly where it ought to be. Otherwise, the Lord would not have said what He did say to the thief. In other words, Jesus and the thief did go to the Paradise of Hades that day, or what is referred to in the Old Testament as Sheol. Does it make any sense that the Lord would tell the thief that they would both be together in a place called Paradise, if it was merely a fictitious, imaginary place which had been invented by the Jews? Would this not even make Jesus a liar if the place did not really exist? Thus, Jesus spoke the truth, plain and simple. They both went to Hades.

Please go to part two for the conclusion of this article.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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