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Prevent: A Detailed Word Study Defending the KJV
Modern scholars are confident that the word prevent in I Thessalonians 4:15 used to mean “precede,” and that it changed its meaning sometime after 1611. Commentators from Albert Barnes to J. Vernon McGee have repeated this claim for more than a century, and it is now treated as settled fact in pulpits and classrooms across the English-speaking world. However, this claim rests on assumptions that have never been tested.
In A Detailed Word Study Defending the KJV, Bill Fortenberry puts those assumptions to the test. He traces the Greek word phthano through Herodotus, Hesychius, the Suda, and the homilies of John Chrysostom, and finds in every case a sense of preemption and hindrance rather than simple succession. He follows the Latin word praevenio through Livy, Tacitus, and Sallust, and explains why Jerome chose it over praecedo when he translated Paul's letter into Latin. He then examines 674 documented occurrences of the English word prevent across sixty sources spanning nearly three centuries and finds that prevent almost never carried the meaning that modern critics assign to it.
Every claim in this book is tied to a named source, a dated text, and a verifiable citation. Readers will find dictionary entries, classical quotations, patristic homilies, and the testimony of theologians from Calvin to Ellicott, all converging on the same conclusion. The men who translated the King James Version used prevent in the same sense that we use for it today.
A Detailed Word Study Defending the KJV is Bill’s second book on the integrity of the King James Version, following False Friends and True Countering Mark Ward's Attack on the Authorized Version. He has also written on theology, American history, and the Christian faith of the founding fathers.
Many of his articles are available on his website, IncreasingLearning.com.
In A Detailed Word Study Defending the KJV, Bill Fortenberry puts those assumptions to the test. He traces the Greek word phthano through Herodotus, Hesychius, the Suda, and the homilies of John Chrysostom, and finds in every case a sense of preemption and hindrance rather than simple succession. He follows the Latin word praevenio through Livy, Tacitus, and Sallust, and explains why Jerome chose it over praecedo when he translated Paul's letter into Latin. He then examines 674 documented occurrences of the English word prevent across sixty sources spanning nearly three centuries and finds that prevent almost never carried the meaning that modern critics assign to it.
Every claim in this book is tied to a named source, a dated text, and a verifiable citation. Readers will find dictionary entries, classical quotations, patristic homilies, and the testimony of theologians from Calvin to Ellicott, all converging on the same conclusion. The men who translated the King James Version used prevent in the same sense that we use for it today.
A Detailed Word Study Defending the KJV is Bill’s second book on the integrity of the King James Version, following False Friends and True Countering Mark Ward's Attack on the Authorized Version. He has also written on theology, American history, and the Christian faith of the founding fathers.
Many of his articles are available on his website, IncreasingLearning.com.
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Published June 26, 2026
About the author
Bill Fortenberry
43 books1 followerBill Fortenberry is a Christian philosopher and historian in Birmingham, AL. Bill's work has been cited in multiple legal journals, and he has appeared as a guest on shows including The Dr. Gina Show, The Michael Hart Show, and Real Science Radio.
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