Appendix B
Page 159 in Full
The thirty reasons for segregation of races, transcribed from the page
Page 159 of the New Testament in the original Dake Annotated Reference Bible is a page of notes. Its running head reads “NOTES ON ACTS OF THE APOSTLES CONTINUED” beside the page number, and it holds Dake’s longer notes on the Book of Acts. The first item, at the top of the left column, is a list of thirty reasons for keeping the races apart, with the reference “(Acts 17:26)” under its title. The verse itself is printed on page 144. Beside it, note c reads “See 30 reasons for segregation of races, p. 159” and sends the reader to the list.1
This page gives the whole note, word for word, with photographs of it from two printings I own, my 1965 printing and my 1979 Large Note Edition. The note is racism printed as Bible teaching. Chapter 20 shows how it fits into a larger web of notes and index entries, and Chapter 21 answers it from Scripture, reason by reason. Chapter 22 tells what happened to it after Dake died.
How the transcription was made
I checked every word below against the photographs of the printed page, read at full size. Nothing is corrected or modernized: Dake’s spelling, abbreviations, punctuation and references stand as printed, and the note’s racial terms appear only inside the quotation.2
The photographs
The first three plates come from my 1979 Large Note Edition, First Printing, August 1979. Its copyright page, which is photographed in Chapter 20, gives 1963 as the copyright year of the whole Bible and 1961 for the New Testament portion.3 The fourth and fifth plates show the same note in my 1965 printing, so the two can be compared.
The note as printed
Here is the note as it stands in the 1979 Large Note Edition, from the heading through reason 30.
30 reasons for segregation of races:
(Acts 17:26)1 God wills all races to be as He made them. Any violation of God's original purpose manifests insubordination to Him (17:26; Rom. 9:19-24)
2 God made everything to reproduce "after his own kind" (Gen. 1:11-12, 21-25; 6:20; 7:14). Kind means type and color or He would have kept them all alike to begin with
3 God originally determined the bounds of the habitations of nations (17:26; Gen. 10:5, 32; 11:8; Dt. 32:8)
4 Miscegenation means the mixture of races, especially the black and white races, or those of outstanding type or color. The Bible even goes farther than opposing this. It is against different branches of the same stock intermarrying such as Jews marrying other descendants of Abraham (Ezra 9-10; Neh. 9-13; Jer. 50:37; Ezek. 30:5)
5 Abraham forbad Eliezer to take a wife for Isaac of Canaanites (Gen. 24:1-4). God was so pleased with this that He directed whom to get (Gen. 24:7, 12-67)
6 Isaac forbad Jacob to take a wife of the Canaanites (Gen. 27:46-28:7)
7 Abraham sent all his sons of the concubines, and even of his second wife, far away from Isaac so their descendants would not mix (Gen. 25:1-6)
8 Esau disobeying this law brought the final break between him and his father after lifelong companionship with him (Gen. 25:28; 26:34-35; 27:46; 28:8-9)
9 The two branches of Isaac remained segregated forever (Gen. 36; 46:8-26)
10 Ishmael and Isaac's descendants remained segregated forever (Gen. 25:12-23; 1 Chr. 1:29)
11 Jacob's sons destroyed a whole city to maintain segregation (Gen. 34).
12 God forbad intermarriage between Israel and all other nations (Ex. 34:12-16; Dt. 7:3-6)
13 Joshua forbad the same thing on sentence of death (Josh. 23:12-13)
14 God cursed angels for leaving their own "first estate" and "their own habitation" to marry the daughters of men (Gen. 6:1-4; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6-7)
15 Miscegenation caused Israel to be cursed (Judg. 3:6-7; Num. 25:1-8)
16 This was Solomon's sin (1 Ki. 11)
17 This was the sin of Jews returning from Babylon (Ezra 9:1-10:2, 10-18, 44; 13:1-30)
18 God commanded Israel to be segregated (Lev. 20:24; Num. 23:9; 1 Ki. 8:53)
19 Jews recognized as a separate people in all ages because of God's choice and command (Mt. 10:6; Jn. 1:11). Equal rights in the gospel gives no right to break this eternal law
20 Segregation between Jews and all other nations to remain in all eternity (Isa. 2:2-4; Ezek. 37; 47:13-48:35; Zech. 14:16-21; Mt. 19:28; Lk. 1:32-33; Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1-5)
21 All nations will remain segregated from one another in their own parts of the earth forever (17:26; Gen. 10:5, 32; 11:8-9; Dt. 32:8; Dan. 7:13-14; Zech. 14; Rev. 11:15; 21:24)
22 Certain people in Israel were not even to worship with others (Dt. 23:1-3; Ezra 10:8; Neh. 9:2; 10:28; 13:3)
23 Even in heaven certain groups will not be allowed to worship together (Rev. 7:7-17; 14:1-5; 15:2-5)
24 Segregation was so strong in the O. T. that an ox and an ass could not be worked together (Dt. 22:10)
25 Miscegenation caused disunity among God's people (Num. 12)
26 Stock was forbidden to be bred with other kinds (Lev. 19:19)
27 Sowing mixed seed in the same field was unlawful (Lev. 19:19)
28 Different seeds were forbidden to be planted in vineyards (Dt. 22:9)
29 Wearing garments of mixed fabrics forbidden (Dt. 22:11; Lev. 19:19)
30 Christians and certain other people of a like race are to be segregated (Mt. 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5:9-13; 6:15; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; Eph. 5:11; 2 Th. 3:6-16; 1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 3:5)
Finis Jennings Dake, Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, 1979 Large Note Edition, N.T. p. 159, note on Acts 17:26, transcribed from plates 1–34
The note ends with reason 30. The next item in the same column is a note on the sabbath, headed “10 reasons 4th commandment left out: (Acts 15:24)” and unrelated to this one.5
Where the two printings differ
My 1965 printing and my 1979 Large Note Edition print the note in the same words, in the same order, with the same references. They differ in four spellings, and in each case the 1965 printing is the one that departs from standard spelling.6
| Reason | 1965 printing | 1979 Large Note Edition |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | descendents | descendants |
| 7 | descendents | descendants |
| 10 | descendents | descendants |
| 25 | Miscegnation | Miscegenation |
At reasons 4 and 15 both printings spell “Miscegenation” in full. The 1965 printing drops the letter only at reason 25.
Readings that needed a second look
Reason 25 reads “Miscegenation caused disunity among God’s people (Num. 12)” in the 1979 Large Note Edition, as plate 2 shows. The 1965 printing has the same words, apart from its spelling of the first one (plate 5).7
Reason 4 reads “outstanding type or color” in both printings (plates 1 and 4). Its last sentence has no comma after “intermarrying” in either one.
Reason 17 ends with the reference “13:1-30” with no book name in front of it, in both printings (plates 1 and 4). The references before it are to Ezra, which has only ten chapters, so this one must be to Nehemiah 13. The 1990 printing supplied the missing “Neh.” when it pasted new words over the note, as Chapter 22 shows.8
Reason 30 reads “of a like race” in both printings (plates 2 and 5). The phrase sits oddly beside its references, which concern church discipline and separation from unbelievers, but it is what the page prints.
Two small marks are given as printed. Reason 1 prints “manifests” whole, and reason 24 sets “O. T.” with a space after the first period.
What is not here
The rest of page 159 is not transcribed, although plate 3 shows all of it. It holds Dake’s other notes on Acts, and one of them bears on this list. His note on the word “offspring” in Acts 17:29, near the foot of the right-hand column, says that every human being descended from Adam. Chapter 20 prints its closing sentences.
The copyright page of my 1965 printing is not reproduced here. The 1979 copyright page belongs to the same volume as plates 1–3.
The later forms of the note are not transcribed here either. Nothing in it changed while Dake lived. He died in July 1987, and my own copies show the changes beginning with the 1988 printing. In the 1990 printing the heading became “30 reasons nations separated” and softer words were pasted over the old ones, but all thirty reasons stayed. The 1992 printing set the note in new type and rewrote it, still with thirty reasons under that heading. The newer typeset edition put a note called “Separation in Scripture” in its place, and that note restates about twenty of the old reasons in new words.9 Chapter 22 follows each step, and Appendix C sets the printings side by side.
Where the page is answered
The heading on page 159 names Acts 17:26. In the New King James Version the verse reads this way.
And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, . . . Acts 17:26 (NKJV)10
Paul told the Athenians that every nation came from one blood and that God set the times and places of the nations. In the next verse he gave the reason, which was that they would seek the Lord and find Him. The thirty reasons were filed under that sentence and used it to keep the nations apart. Chapter 21 opens the Scriptures behind each reason and shows what the verse actually teaches. Chapter 20 shows the index entries and Old Testament notes that led readers to this page.
If you own a Dake Bible, you can tell in a minute which form of the note it carries. In a printing with the original wording, the first note on N.T. page 159 is headed “30 reasons for segregation of races” as in the plates above. The 1990 and 1992 printings head the same list “30 reasons nations separated” instead. In the newer typeset edition, the note beside Acts 17:26 sends you to “Separation in Scripture” on page 275.
Notes
↑ 1. Finis Jennings Dake, Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible (Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, © 1963; Large Note Edition, First Printing, August 1979), N.T. p. 159, note on Acts 17:26, and N.T. p. 144, note c (Acts 17:26); photographs of my copy. The heading on p. 159 ends with a colon, and the verse reference stands on the line below it. The edition’s contents page places Acts at N.T. p. 122 and Romans at N.T. p. 160, so p. 159 is the last page of the notes on Acts.
↑ 2. The base text is the 1979 Large Note Edition (plates 1–3), read against the 1965 printing; both were scanned at 600 dpi. On the page the note runs down the left column, reasons 1 through 22, and continues at the top of the second, reasons 23 through 30. Here the reasons follow one another in a single sequence. Words broken at the end of a line are joined, and references set tight by the type are spaced normally (reason 1 prints “(17:26;Rom.”). The underlining of the heading and of “Kind” in reason 2 is the page’s own. The numbers stand without periods, and most reasons end without a final period, as printed.
↑ 3. Dake, Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, 1979 Large Note Edition, copyright page; photograph of my copy, the same volume as plates 1–3. It reads “© Copyright 1963 by / Finis Jennings Dake / New Testament portion (with Daniel, Psalms and Proverbs) / © Copyright 1961” and names the printing as the Large Note Edition, First Printing, August 1979. The full text is in Chapter 20, note 34, with the photograph.
↑ 4. Dake, Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, 1979 Large Note Edition, N.T. p. 159, the note headed “30 reasons for segregation of races: (Acts 17:26)” at the top of the left column. Every reason was also read in the 1965 printing of the same page; the only differences are the four spellings listed below.
↑ 5. The heading is underlined on the page and stands directly below reason 30 in the second column, in both printings. Its content has no bearing on this note and is not reproduced here.
↑ 6. Read on both 600 dpi scans. Plate 4 shows the three cases of “descendents” in the 1965 printing, and plate 1 shows “descendants” at the same places. Plates 5 and 2 show reason 25 in the two printings. Both spellings have been used in English, and “descendents” is now rare.
↑ 7. The 1965 printing reads “Miscegnation caused disunity among God’s people (Num. 12)” at reason 25. Chapter 21 takes up what Numbers 12 reports.
↑ 8. Both printings read “(Ezra 9:1-10:2, 10-18, 44; 13:1-30)” at reason 17. Nehemiah 13 records Israel separating from the mixed multitude on the reading of the law, which fits the argument the note is making. Dake, Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, 1990 printing, N.T. p. 159, reason 17, prints “Neh. 13:1-30” in the typeface of its pasted corrections.
↑ 9. In the newer typeset edition the note at Acts 17:26 reads “c See Separation in Scripture, p. 275.” (Dake, Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, newer typeset edition, p. 251, note c). The note “Separation in Scripture (17:26)” runs across pp. 275–276, and the running head of p. 275 reads “THE ACTS NOTES CONTINUED (158-159) 275” across the top of the page. The 1990 and 1992 pages and the newer note are quoted in Chapter 22 and Appendix C.
↑ 10. Acts 17:26, New King James Version. The verse ends with a comma, and Paul’s sentence runs on into verse 27. The Dake Bible is now also published with the New King James text (Dake Publishing, ISBN 978-1-55829-093-8). The exegesis of this verse, including the textual question behind the words “one blood,” belongs to Chapter 21.