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All KJV Words

Archaic KJV Word

Tithe

Modern equivalent: required donation

What Was Lost

The ownership declaration. Tithing was not generosity -- it was recognition that the first tenth belonged to God because everything belonged to God. It was a trust exercise: giving the firstfruits before you knew if there would be enough, declaring by action that God owned it all and you trusted Him with the rest.

Closest Survivor in Modern English

tithe (still used in Christian traditions but often experienced as 'paying a bill' rather than 'worshipping through giving')

Peak Usage (1611)

KJV Malachi 3:10 -- 'Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse'; Genesis 14:20 -- 'He gave him tithes of all'

Died still used but bill-ified (~1900)

Hebrew maaser ('tenth/firstfruits recognition that everything belongs to God') reduced from a joyful act of worship and trust to 'the church's bill' -- an obligation rather than a declaration of divine ownership.

What Replaced It

donation

Voluntary gift of your money; tithe was returning God's portion of what was already His

church dues

Membership fee; tithe was a worship act declaring God as owner of everything

offering

Generic; tithe was specifically a tenth -- precise, disciplined, and first-off-the-top

Related KJV Words