[Steven Avery]

Here are some examples from Matthew of a specific separate preposition or syllable used for the aspect of 'out' and 'without'. Giving the lexicon #.

apo - 575 - is often used for 'out of'.

exo - 1854 - is also used for 'away' and 'out of' and 'forth' and 'without' and similar expressions and is most used in the three verses below.

ek - 1537 - is used for 'out of' more than 150 times in the NT. Note that the Matthew 7:4 example is the 'ekballo' mentioned below, an embedded prepositional syllable.

Matthew 8:34 has two usages - 1537 as part of the compound word meaning 'came out' and 'apo' as part of 'depart out'.

The Greek is taken from the Stephen's TR, generally the same or similar to the Scrivener TR, from the John Hurt 'Parallel Greek New Testament' website. Please feel free to correct any errors in this presentation.

Matthew 5:13
Ye are the salt of the earth:
but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted?
it is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be cast out,
and to be trodden under foot of men.

umeiV este to alaV thV ghV ean de to alaV mwranqh en tini alisqhsetai eiV ouden iscuei eti ei mh blhqhnai exw kai katapateisqai upo twn anqrwpwn

Matthew 12:47
Then one said unto him,
Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without,
desiring to speak with thee.

eipen de tiV autw idou h mhthr sou kai oi adelfoi sou exw esthkasin zhtounteV soi lalhsai

Matthew 21:39
And they caught him,
and cast him out of the vineyard,
and slew him.

kai labonteV auton exebalon exw tou ampelwnoV kai apekteinan

Matthew 7:4
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye;
and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye

h pwV ereiV tw adelfw sou afeV ekbalw to karfoV apo tou ofqalmou sou kai idou h dokoV en tw ofqalmw sou

Matthew 8:34
And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

kai idou pasa h poliV exhlqen eiV sunanthsin tw ihsou kai idonteV auton parekalesan opwV metabh apo twn oriwn autwn

This argument is very supportive, albeit not probative. It is very significant since it is discusses a primary point, that if the Lord Jesus wanted to say 'strain out' Jesus had a simple way to indicate this meaning. The adverbial usage would come naturally, e.g. by adding the word 'apo'.

Now a person arguing for 'strain out' could claim that 'out' is embedded in the definition of diulizonteV, however that has not been demonstrated and generally it is not even argued directly.

See the examples above where this argument would work ... there is a word given for cast out that already combines cast or throw with 'ek' - into the word ekballo. Thus exballo by itself means to cast out.

Or they could claim that 'out' is contextually implied. However that would be agreeing that the Greek word means more directly 'strain' with the choice of the preposition (out, at or omit) and article (a, the) being the translator's call, using all their skills and background and understanding of the Bible text. And thus being a defacto acknowledgment that 'out', much more than the other choices, either could or should have its own specified preposition.

In fact the assertion that diulizontes actually defines as 'strain out' is generally seen only on articles designed to declare a 'King James Bible error'. Especially combined with the totally false misprint or typographical error or printer error claims. Since it is hard to claim it is a misprint if you are not also asserting the meaning is different ! So they wing it a bit. This assertion (that the word actually defines as 'strain out') is not an argument that I have seen referenced in lexicons or in scholarly commentary analysis. That is one reason why the Bauer-Denker lexicon reference was given earlier.

We know the translators of the King James Bible were true Greek experts, who lived and read and spoke and breathed the classical languages in a way that is rare today. It is very possible that this simple grammar issue was one factor in their decision to translate Matthew 23:24 as :

Matthew 23:24 (KJB 1611)
Ye blind guides,
which straine at a gnat,
and swallow a camel.

Shalom,
Steven