By and By

By and by is an archaic English phrase used in Matthew 13:21 and Luke 21:9 (King James Version) to translate the Greek eutheos and euthys, meaning “immediately” or “straightway.” In modern English “by and by” means “eventually” or “after some time,” the precise opposite of its seventeenth-century meaning of “at once.” This semantic reversal is one of the more significant instances of a KJV translation that now actively misleads the modern reader.

In Matthew 13:21, the rocky-ground hearer receives the word with joy but falls away “by and by”—that is, immediately—when persecution arises. In Luke 21:9, Jesus warns that the end does not come “by and by”—that is, not immediately—when wars and disturbances occur. The Revised Version renders Matthew 13:21 as “straightway” and the RSV and ESV as “immediately,” restoring the urgency of the Greek. The shift in meaning of “by and by” over four centuries illustrates the necessity of periodic translation revision to maintain accurate communication of the biblical text.