My question today is why is the word Easter used in Acts 12:4 in the KJV? It is used for the Greek word Pascha (which is the paschal lamb) used in the password meal. I thought that Easter had its roots in paganism, so why would the KJ have used it?
The Greek word used in Acts 12:4 appears 29 times in the New Testament and is only translated Easter there. In all the other places, it’s translated Passover. I think that the King James translators simply made a mistake, forgetting that the word Easter wasn’t associated with the Passover / Unleavened Bread holy days for several hundred years after Peter’s arrest, which probably took place about 44 AD. The other major translations I checked, including the New King James, all use the word Passover in Acts 12:4.