ALL (כֹּל, H3972, כָּלִיל, H4003, H4005, כָּלַל; ἅπας, G570; ὅλος, G3910; ὅσος, G4012; πᾶς, G4246). The word “all” cannot always be taken in a literal sense. Its real meaning can usually be determined from the context. Sometimes it has the meaning of “any,” as in Deuteronomy 22:3, where the KJV has “with all lost things of thy brother’s,” and the RSV “with any lost thing of your brother’s”; and in Hebrews 7:7, where the KJV has, “And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better,” and the RSV, “It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.” In Colossians 1:10 the “all pleasing” of the KJV becomes “fully pleasing” in the RSV. Sometimes it means “altogether,” as in Nahum 3:1, “Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and booty.” Frequently it means a “large number” or a “great part of” as in Luke 2:1, where it is said that Caesar Augustus issued a decree that all the world should be enrolled. Other examples of this are Acts 11:28; 19:27; 24:5.

There are a number of puzzling expressions involving the use of “all” (KJV) which require explanation and are rendered more clearly in modern trs. Some of the better known are the following. (1) All along. “Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth” (1 Sam 28:20), becomes in the RSV, “Then Saul fell at once full length upon the ground.” (2) For all. John 21:11, “for all there were so many.” (3) All as many as. Matthew 22:10, “So those servants...gathered together all as many as they found,” becomes in the RSV, “Those servants...gathered all whom they found.” (4) All whatsoever. Matthew 23:3, “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do,” is in the RSV, “So practice and observe whatever they tell you.” (5) Above all. Luke 3:20, “Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison,” is rendered in the RSV, “Added this to them all, that he shut up John in prison.” See, however, Ephesians 6:16, where the RSV retains the expression, although it is changed in some other modern Eng. trs.: Am. Trans.: “Besides all these”; Weymouth: “besides all these”; NEB: “with all these.” Luke 13:4, “Think ye that they were sinners above all,” is in the RSV, “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others?” (6) All in all. 1 Corinthians 15:28, “that God may be all in all,” is in the Moffat, Am. Tr., and RSV, “that God may be everything to everyone.” (7) All one. 1 Corinthians 11:5, “That is even all one as if she were shaven,” is in the RSV, “It is the same as if her head were shaven.” (8) In all manner of. 1 Peter 1:15, “Be ye holy in all manner of conversation,” becomes in the RSV, “Be holy yourselves in all your conduct.” (9) All to brake. Judges 9:53, “A certain woman cast a piece of millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull.” What does “all to brake his skull” mean? Does it express the purpose of the woman or the result of her action? The Heb. means literally “crushed his skull.” To understand what the KJV trs. intended one must know that in Old and Middle English “all to” was regarded as an adverb meaning “completely” or “entirely.” The RSV has, “A certain woman threw an upper millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and crushed his skull.”

The KJV of the following passages is misleading. Matthew 26:27 represents Jesus as handing the cup to the apostles and saying to them, “Drink ye all of it,” which seems to mean, “Drink all of the wine; do not leave any.” The Gr. word “all,” however, is in the nominative case, modifying the subject of the verb, not its object. Jesus therefore asked all of the apostles to drink of the cup. Other Eng. trs. make this clear; Tyndale, “Drink of it every one”; Geneva Bible, “Drink ye everyone of it”; Goodspeed, “You must all drink from it”; RSV, “Drink of it, all of you”; NEB, “Drink from it, all of you.” James 3:2 in the KJV says, “For in many things we offend all,” which seems to mean that in many ways we are offensive to everybody. The word “all,” however, is in the nominative case, not in the accusative, so that the passage really means, as the RSV has it, “For we all make many mistakes.”

Bibliography R. Bridges and L. A. Weigle, The Bible Word Book (1960), 14-17.