This is a technical forum, so technical & meticulous correctness is somewhat on-topic.
The exact form of the quote causes problems, and is apt to the situation of hobby expenses & profit, so I think it's worth people noting the broader authoritative consensus, which is "the love of money is a root of many evils".
I can't read Greek nor Aramaic (yet, I've always liked to think!), so the only thing I can do is study the English translations. In every annotated translation, which is worded with "a root of all kinds of" , it is so noted that the words
a, and
kinds of, are inserted by the translators. This is part of normal translation (as opposed to transliteration, which the Authorised Version more resembles). I really appreaciate the KJV and NKJV and others like it that italicise the words inserted by translators that don't actually exist in the original text. That leaves it up to the reader to ponder which meaning is correct. (I think this is much better than following a consensus, strictly my opinion.)
It occured to me whilst I was trying to sleep last night (your morning, probably
) that I think this verse is one of the key examples from the "KJV only" movement, how the meaning of a verse can be completely (even if unintentionally) altered by the translators.
I prefer the original translation in this case because it logically defaults to being more severe. It doesn't explicitly prevent other actions being sources of evil higher up the chain from the root. In any case, the reader understands the severity, and the fact that the love of money is not specifically the only thing that can corrupt a person.
I had a similar logic-wise conversation with another group the other night; how something that's mandatory can still be said to be permissible. Else if it's not permissible, how can it then be mandatory? Such, I think, the love of money being the absolute root of all evil does not preclude eg. debauchery from being a root (near-root?) of evil.
Reading the original Authorised Version again after reading other translations really gives one an appreciation for the way the language has changed, as you said. A very
awful experience (
awesome, for anyone not familiar!).
