A wild claim that a key message spoken by Jesus was secretly removed from Bibles sold in the US has begun to spread across social media.
Several believers on X and TikTok revealed that the verse Matthew 17:21, where Jesus said ‘But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting,’ was missing from various versions of the Bible.
This verse, from the King James Version of the Bible, refers to an explanation by Jesus to his disciples about why they failed to cast a demon out of a boy.
Over the years, this passage emphasizing the healing power of fasting and prayer has often been interpreted to refer to serious or chronic physical illnesses, not just literal demonic possession.
However, TikTok user Whitney Elaine quickly went viral last week after claiming that the US government played a hand in removing the Bible verse, allegedly to cover up Jesus’s teachings on how to be healed from sickness and diseases naturally.
‘This is how corrupt the government and the USA and everybody that’s involved is because Jesus literally tells us in his words fast and pray, you will be healed,’ the TikTok user said in her viral video.
Her two-minute post has already been viewed more than one million times, sparking others to share similar videos and pictures showing that their Bibles were missing Matthew 17:21 as well.
Many Christians have pushed back on the claims, noting that Matthew 17:21 was not secretly removed from newer versions of the Bible, but rather the verse was never part of the earliest and most reliable manuscripts from ancient times.
The King James Version of the Bible (Pictured) contained the verse Matthew 17:21, which some on social media have claimed was intentionally removed from other versions
‘This is not so much an “age of your Bible” issue, as much as a ‘source material/manuscript used’ issue,’ a member of Grace Church in New Jersey told the Daily Mail.
Christians on social media added that a later scribal addition of Matthew’s Gospel borrowed from the parallel passage in Mark 9:29 to create this verse, which only appears in the medieval manuscripts used for the King James Version (KJV).
The KJV is an English Bible first published in 1611 after being translated from the Textus Receptus, a 16th-century Greek text compiled from a smaller number of later manuscripts than previous Bibles.
The New King James Version and the Modern English Version were translated from the same source and also keep Matthew 17:21 intact.
Most newer Bibles, such as the New International Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation, and Christian Standard Bible, leave the verse out of the main text because they follow the oldest copies of the Bible.
However, these modern translations usually include the verse in a footnote for transparency and the reason it was omitted.
In fact, the videos posted by Whitney Elaine and others on social media showed the notation [21] in between Matthew 17:20 and Matthew 17:22, which were still present in these copies of the Bible.
‘It mostly comes down to which Greek manuscript is used by each translation, along with what they prioritize: readability, accuracy, thought-for-thought, or modern understandability,’ a parishioner at Grace Church added.
Christians have pushed back on the viral social media videos, saying the missing verses came from a different translation of the Bible, which may be less accurate (Stock Image)
It’s believed that Bible translators have been making these kinds of careful choices for almost 2,000 years, debunking the idea of a secret plot and making it just an act of normal scholarship.
‘Every so many years, the Bible is changed. This is nothing new, and it’s been happening since the very beginning of the Canon compilation when they decided what should or should not be in it,’ another person said on X.
Despite many believers taking to social media to debunk the conspiracy, some are still convinced Scripture has been deliberately changed to censor certain controversial topics in today’s world.
Multiple videos posted this week claimed that other Bible verses were also removed, along with Matthew 17:21, including Matthew 23:14, where Jesus condemned religious leaders who cheat vulnerable widows and say longer prayers to appear more spiritual and holy.
‘What are they trying to hide?’ one X user asked.
‘Absolutely not. They don’t want us to know that because if we’re fasting, we’re not eating the poison,’ one commenter on TikTok alleged.
The New Testament of the Bible wasn’t printed as a single book until the 15th century. Before that, it was hand-copied by scribes for centuries.
The earliest complete manuscript of the New Testament is believed to be the Codex Sinaiticus from the fourth century.
The allegedly missing verse from Matthew doesn’t appear in the oldest and most authoritative Greek manuscripts and only began to appear in Bibles between the fifth and ninth centuries.
The verse Mark 9:29 in the KJV, which Matthew 17:21 is alleged to have been copied from, states: ‘And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.’
