Why did the KJV translators sometimes use the word gentiles and sometimes use the nations when they mean the same thing?
I don't know why the King James Version translators chose to use the word "gentile(s)" when they did, instead of the word "nation(s)" when the Hebrew or the Greek for both words were used.
By the way, I don't think anybody who is living today knows why the translators chose to do it because none of us were there obviously, and as far as I know from my own research, they did not write why they did. (Although because it is the KJV, and therefore it is the perfect Word of God for us who speak English, I believe that how they translated each word was by the Providence of God, so I believe that they did it right.)
Anyway, I will now speculate why they chose to translate the Hebrew and Greek words for gentile(s) and nation(s) the way they did by just going through all the verses from the bible, and when you do that, it truly makes sense. Again, it is like splitting hairs, but here's what I found....
It is correct to say that the words gentiles and nations are synonymous in scripture because our Lord speaks about them both in similar passages...
Matthew 6:31-32
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Notice here our Lord's words are translated gentiles, but notice a parallel passage from the book of Luke...
Luke 12:30
For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
So we see that to use them synonymously is just fine. But an even closer inspection of the usage of these words, both here and in other passages, we can see even more...
In short, when they translated the word "nations(s), it was usually a general term all the different countries of the earth outside of the Israel. But when it is translated gentile(s), it seems that it is in reference to the specific individuals in those other nations/countries!
In other words, not just the different other countries in general, but the individual people who inhabit those countries is when the word gentile(s). So in essence when translated as gentile(s) it refers more the people of the other nations. Makes sense?
For example, let's use our Apostle Paul's usage in the same chapter—the first chapter of Romans.
Romans 1:5-8
By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
What I see here is that Paul is telling these Romans that his ministry was to go out to make all the countries in the then known whole world of the Roman Empire obedient to God's Word, and among these “all nations” was the people of Rome.
But then later on in the chapter he says...
Romans 1:13-16
Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other gentiles. I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
What I see in this context is that now Paul is recounting the fruit he bore among other gentiles, and then he goes on to talk about his dealings with individual people. When Paul would go out among the nations he would deal with individuals in these nations (book of Acts), thus the gentiles!
So for me, when I read these passages, I see that when the words are translated as "nations" it is simply a general term of all the different countries of the then known world, and when it was translated "gentiles" it refers to the individuals of the different countries!
Hopefully this helps...Maranatha!
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