Thanks for the answers.

I hadn't seen any discussion of this, only recently recognized the problem for that matter. I should have realized that it would have been discussed quite a bit somewhere. I merely looked up the older translations (in Swordsearcher) to find that they all say "out," and to my mind that makes it a misprint in the KJB. There were quite a few such mistakes in the original 1611 that were corrected over time, weren't there? Why couldn't it be that this is just one that escaped? After a while, the wording "strain at" was so accepted that changing it might not even have occurred to anyone -- ??? But since the older translations the KJB translators made use of have "out" and that reflects the practice of the Pharisees more accurately, the other explanations such as Will Kinney gives aren't very convincing.

Well, "at" is going to go on that list I said I'd make of changes I think should be made in the KJB, on the thread about the tiny little updatings. But since such an idea is so unpopular here, perhaps I should just keep all such thoughts to myself anyway.

(It doesn't make me happy to find things I think need changing in the KJB, but at the same time I don't think it is a disaster if some happen to exist, as so many here think. The main thing that needs emphasizing in this whole Bible versions discussion is how bad and deceitful the new translations are and how they interfere with the life of the church, and all this worry about changing a few words in the KJB deflects the discussion from what's really most important. In my opinion.)