The King James Version — 400th Anniversary n July 22, 1604, shortly after James VI of Scotland ascended the throne of England as King James I (1603), he announced a decision that history has shown was the watershed event of his reign: a new translation of the Bible was to be undertaken. The English translation of the Bible that appeared in 1611, the Authorized Version, known popularly as the King James Version, came to be regarded as the most influential book in the history of English civilization. Writers and literary critics have acclaimed it as the “noblest monument of English prose.” In a series of lectures at Cambridge Univer sity during World War I, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch declared the King James Version was “the very greatest” literary achieve ment in the English language. Indeed, the King James Version is a living landmark in the history of the English language, both a religious and literary classic, and its influence has been incalculable. Adam Nicolson, author of God’s Secretaries, writes that it “can lay claim to be the greatest work in prose ever written in English.” Scholars have long agreed that the greatest influences in the shaping of the English language are the King James Version and the complete works of William Shakespeare. Throughout the history of the English language, the King James Version has remained the most often quoted document in existence—a constant inspiration to people from all walks of life, whether poets, farmers, pastors, housewives, or politicians.
The Origins of the King James Version Even before King James took the throne in London, he was approached by a group of Puritans with a petition signed by 800 clergy who requested reform within the Church of England. The petition prompted the king to call for a conference of Anglican bishops, clergymen, and professors, along with four Puritan leaders, in January 1604 at Hampton Court “for the hearing, and for the determining, things pretended to be amiss in the church.” Although a new translation of the Bible in English was not on the agenda, Dr. John Reynolds, the Puritan president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, presented a strong case for the need of one. At the time, the Bishops’ Bible was the standard in churches, but the Geneva Bible was the most popular English translation in homes.
Volumes of William Tyndale’s translation that predated the King James Version by seventy years.
King James, as well as others in England at the time, was not in favor of the Geneva Bible, because some of the Calvinist commentary in its marginal notes was felt to promote resistance to the king and state. He declared, “I could never yet see a Bible well translated in English; but I think that, of all, that of Geneva is the worst. I wish some special pains were taken for an uniform translation, which should be done by the best learned men in both Universities, then reviewed by the Bishops, presented to the Privy Council, lastly ratified by the Royal authority, to be read in the whole Church, and none other.”
Before the King James Version
The Bible was written by more than 40 people from all walks of life across a period of several centuries in the languages of Hebrew and Aramaic (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament). With the changing of nations and cultures across the centuries, these original writings have been translated many times to make the Bible available in different languages. Just as God inspired people to write His Word, He also has preserved the Bible by using human instruments to pass it on to succeeding generations.
hebrew |
The Hebrew Bible has come down to us through the scrupulous care of ancient scribes who copied the original text in successive generations. By the sixth century a.d., the scribes had been succeeded by a group known as the Masoretes, who continued to preserve the sacred Scriptures for another five hundred years in a standardized form known as the Masoretic Text. Babylonia, Palestine, and Tiberias were the main centers of Masoretic activity; but by the tenth century a.d. the Masoretes of Tiberias, led by the family of ben Asher, gained the ascendancy. Through subsequent editions, the ben Asher text became in the twelfth century the only recognized form of the Hebrew Scriptures. Daniel Bomberg printed the first Rabbinic Bible in 1516–1517; that work was followed in 1524– 1525 by a second edition prepared by Jacob ben Chayyim and also published by Bomberg. The text of ben Chayyim was adopted in most subsequent Hebrew Bibles, including those used by the King James Version translators. t The Psalms Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of about 900 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in Israel.
Before the King James Version
the septuagint |
The oldest Bible translation in the world was made in Alexandria, Egypt, where the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek for the benefit of the Greek-speaking Jews of that city. A Jewish community had existed in Alexandria almost from its foundation by Alexander the Great in 331 b.c. In two or three generations this community had forgotten its native Palestinian language. These Jews realized they needed the Hebrew Scriptures rendered into the only language they knew, Greek. The first section of the Hebrew Bible to be translated into Greek was the Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Old Testament, sometime before 200 b.c. Other parts were translated during the next century. This version is commonly called the Septu agint, from septuaginta, the Latin word for 70 (LXX). This name was selected because of a tradition that the Pentateuch was translated by 70 elders of Israel who were brought to Alexandria especially for this purpose.
Only a few fragments of this version survive from the period before Christ. Most copies of the Greek Old Testament belong to the Christian era and were made by Christians. The John Rylands University Library, Manchester, England, owns a fragment of Deuteronomy in Greek from the second century b.c. Another fragment of the same book in Greek dating from about the same time exists in Cairo. Other fragments of the Septuagint have been identified among the texts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947. When Christianity penetrated the world of the Greek-speaking Jews, and then the Gentiles, the Septuagint was the Bible used for preaching the gospel. Most of the Old Testament quotations in the New Testament are taken from the Greek Bible. The Septuagint thus became the “authorized version” of the early Gentile churches. To this day it is the official version of the Old Testament used in the Greek Orthodox Church. After the books in the New Testament were written and accepted by the early church, they were added to the Septuagint to form the complete Greek version of the Bible. The Septuagint was based on a Hebrew text much older than most surviving Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament. Occasionally, this Greek Old Testament helps scholars to reconstruct the wording of a passage where it might have been lost or miscopied by scribes as the text was passed down across the centuries. t
The Rylands Library Papyrus P52, also known as the St. John’s fragment, is a fragment from a papyrus codex, measuring only 3.5 by 2.5 inches at its widest, that contains lines from John 18:31–33, in Greek. It is generally accepted as the earliest extant record of a canonical New Testament text.
The Anglican bishop of London, Richard Bancroft, was not in favor of a new translation, but consented that if a new translation was to be undertaken, marginal notes must be kept to a minimum. Accordingly, a resolution came forth: “That a translation be made of the whole Bible, as consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Greek; and this to be set out and printed, without any marginal notes, and only to be used in all churches of England in time of divine service.” It was to be a Bible for everyone, and Bancroft would become its “chief overseer” as well as Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Cultural Background of the Translators The historical stage was set for a translation of the Bible that would become the most cherished Bible translation of all time. Considered the golden age of English literature, the Elizabethan age of the late sixteenth century had brought a flowering of drama and poetry with writers such as Spenser, Marlowe, and Shakespeare. The most important dramas in English and a great deal of lyric poetry were produced during this period. Regarding the English language of the period, Adam Nicolson states: “Boisterous, elegant, subtle, majestic, finely nuanced, sonorous and musical, the English of that period has a more encompassing idea of its own reach and scope than any before or since. It is a form of the language that drips with potency and sensitivity.” It was from within the context of this Renaissance of literature and language that the men who were appointed to translate the Bible from 1604 to 1611 were drawn— contemporaries of some of the greatest English authors of all time. The King James Version thus came to partake of the rhythms and the beauty of Elizabethan poetry and drama, perhaps the finest English has ever known.
Queen Elizabeth I’s reign from 1558 – 1603 is known as the Elizabethan era, famous above all for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Francis Drake.
Engraving of printer using the early Gutenberg letter press during the 15th century.
Two other factors dramatically influenced the Elizabethan-period translators. The years from about 1450 onward had brought exciting cultural changes in Western Europe. First, the revival of interest in classical and biblical learning was already underway when it received a stimulus from the migration of Greek scholars and their precious biblical manuscripts to the West after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, facilitating the spread of Greek learning. This period’s awakened devotion to classical learning was accompanied by a flourishing interest in the Scriptures, an interest that was strengthened by the conviction that the manuscripts were providentially handed down and were a trustworthy record of the inspired Word of God. Second, the translators were benefiting from the rela tively new technology of the printing press, in much the way that today’s world has been changed by the Internet. With the invention of printing in Germany by Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1450), the promoters of the new learning found a new technology at their disposal as well as the means to light the spark of the Protestant Reformation. Among the first products of the printing press were editions of the Bible—the very first major work being the famous Gutenberg edition of the Latin Bible, in 1456. Until that point in time, ordinary Christians had to rely on clergy to get access to the Scriptures that were the founda tion of their faith. Now the door was opened to all people who desired to experience the Word of God for themselves. Universal literacy and education were also made possible, though not yet realities. The following decades brought printed editions of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Septuagint (a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek plus some additional books), and the Greek New Testament. The leaders of the Protestant Reformation were quick to take advantage of this new invention to help advance their efforts in Church reform.
The Translation Process When King James announced the decision to undertake a new translation of the Bible, he appointed to the project 54 of the best biblical scholars and linguists of their day. The translation was to be a truly collaborative work. Furthermore, detailed guidelines were set forth for the translation process. The group of scholars and linguists (numbering 47 by the time the translation was begun) was divided into six committees. Two committees would work at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two in Westminster, and each committee was assigned books of the Bible to translate. Ten scholars at Westminster were assigned Genesis through 2 Kings; seven had Romans through Jude. At Cambridge, eight worked on 1 Chronicles through the Song of Solomon, while seven others handled the Apocrypha. Oxford employed seven to translate Isaiah through Malachi; eight occupied themselves with the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation. In the preface to the 1611 edition, the translators of the King James Version state that it was not their purpose “to make a new translation, but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones one principle good one.” Their translation effort was based primarily on the 1602 edition of the Bishops’ Bible, but the translators also used the Tyndale, Matthew, Coverdale, Great, Geneva, and Douay Bibles. The scholars were proficient in Hebrew and Greek and used the Masoretic text of the Complutensian Polyglot (1514–1517) for the Old Testament. For the New Testament they used the Textus Receptus published by Stephanus and Beza from 1550 onward. The scholars readily appreciated the intrinsic beauty of divine revelation. The reason the King James Version is so rich in the nobility of its language is that the translators were careful to make it so. They disciplined their talents to render finely chosen English words of their time, as well as a graceful, often musical arrangement of language. The text was to be used at church services and read aloud, so the translators would read their versions aloud to one another and rewrite again and again to achieve the best emphasis of punctuation and the best rhythm in prose.
The University of Cambridge is the second oldest university in England and the fourth oldest in Europe.
Title page to the King James Bible, 1611, shows the Twelve Apostles at the top. Moses and Aaron flank the central text. In the four corners sit Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, authors of the four gospels, with their symbolic animals.
It took three years for the committees of scholars to complete the translation. Then, two scholars were selected for each committee to form a review committee of twelve, and three more years were spent reviewing and revising the work. Nicolson states that the end result was an astonishing document possessing “immediacy, dignity, a sense of deep, musical rhythm, an intuitive and poetic understanding of the connection between the present and the past, a tangible empathy, a precision…a careful elaboration of arrangement and structure.” After another nine months preparing the Bible for press, it was ready to be printed by the king’s printer. The completed work was issued in 1611, the complete title page reading: THE HOLY BIBLE,
Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New: Newly Translated out of the Originall tongues: & with the former Translations diligently compared and revised, by his Majesties Special Commandment. Appointed to be read in Churches. Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the Kings most Excellent Majestie. Anno Dom. 1611.
The King James Version was, in its first printing, 16" x 10 1/2", which was even larger than the Great Bible. It was printed in black letter with small roman type to represent those words not in the original languages. This version went through several editions and revisions. Two notable editions were that of 1629, the first ever printed at Cambridge, and that of 1638, also at Cambridge, which was assisted by John Bois and Samuel Ward, two of the original translators. The most important and permanent edition was the 1769 Oxford revision by Benjamin Blayney.
Before the King James Version
aramaic targums |
The word targum means “translation.” After their return from captivity in Babylonia from 500–450 b.c., many Jews spoke Aramaic, a sister language, instead of the pure Hebrew of their ancestors. They found it difficult to follow the reading of the Hebrew Scriptures at worship. So they adopted the practice of providing an oral paraphrase into Aramaic when the Scriptures were read in Hebrew. The person who provided this paraphrase, the Turgeman, was an official in the synagogue. One of the earliest examples of such a paraphrase occurs in Nehemiah 8:8. Because of the work of Ezra, the Pentateuch was officially recognized as the constitution of the Jewish state during the days of the Persian Empire. This constitution was read publicly to the whole community after their return to Jerusalem. The appointed readers “read distinctly [or, with inter pretation] from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense and helped them understand the reading.” The phrase “with interpretation” appears as a marginal reading in several modern versions (for example, the RSV), but it probably indicates exactly what happened. The Hebrew text was read, followed by an oral paraphrase in Aramaic so everyone would be sure to understand.
The Aleppo Codex is a medieval manuscript of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), associated with Rabbi Aaron ben Asher. The Masoretic scholars wrote it in the early 10th century, probably in Tiberias, Israel. It is in book form and contains the vowel points and grammar points (nikkudot) that specify the pronunciation of the ancient Hebrew letters to preserve the chanting tradition. It is perhaps the most historically important Hebrew manuscript in existence.
This practice continued as a standard in the Jewish synagogue for a long time. The targum, or paraphrase of the Hebrew, was not read from a written document, lest some of the congregation might think the authoritative law was being read. Some religious leaders apparently held that the targum should not be written down, even for use outside of the synagogue. In time, all objections to a written targum disappeared. A number of such paraphrases began to be used. Official Jewish recognition was given to two in particular—the Targum of Onkelos on the Pentateuch and the Targum of Jonathan on the Prophets. Some were far from being word-forword translations. As expanded paraphrases, they included interpretations and comments on the biblical text. Some New Testament writers indicate know ledge of targumic interpretation in their quotations from the Old Testament. For example, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30) is a quotation from Deuteronomy 32:35; but it conforms neither to the Hebrew text nor to the Greek text of the Septuagint. This particular phrase comes from the Targum. Again, the words of Ephesians 4:8, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men,” are taken from Psalm 68:18. But the Hebrew and Septuagint texts speak of the receiving of gifts. Only the Targum on this text mentions the giving of gifts. t
Before the King James Version
latin |
The need for a Latin Bible first arose during the second century a.d., when Latin began to replace Greek as the dominant language of the Roman Empire. The first Old Testament sections of the Latin Bible were considered unreliable, since they were actually a translation of a translation. They were based on the Septuagint, which, in turn, was a translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Since the New Testament was written originally in Greek, it was translated directly into the Latin language. Several competing New Testament translations were in use throughout the Latin-speaking world as early as about a.d. 250. The task of producing one standard Latin Bible to replace these competing translations was entrusted by Damasus, bishop of Rome (366–384), to his secretary, Jerome. He began with a revision of the Gospels, followed by the Psalms. After completing the New Testament, Jerome mastered the Hebrew language in order to translate the Old Testament into Latin. He completed his work in a.d. 405, and it has come to be known as the Latin Vulgate. The best surviving manuscript of the Latin Vulgate, the Codex Amiatinus, is now in the Laurentian Library in Florence, Italy. Written in a monastery in Northumbria, England, it was presented to Pope Gregory II in 716.
Above: Calligraphy in a Latin Bible of 1407 on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. The Bible was handwritten in Belgium, by Gerard Brils. Right: A page from the 7th-century Book of Durrow, from The Gospel of Mark.
The Latin Vulgate is especially important because it was the medium through which the gospel arrived in Western Europe. It remained the standard version in this part of the world for centuries. In 1546 the Council of Trent directed that only “this same ancient and vulgate edition… be held as authentic in public lecture, disputations, sermons, and expository discourses, and that no one make bold or presume to reject it on any pretext.” Until the twentieth century no translations of the Bible except those based on the Vulgate were recognized as authoritative by the Roman Catholic Church. t
The Profound Influence of the King James Version The beauty of the King James Version, as well as its enormous influence, can never be exaggerated. The new version won wide acceptance among the people of the English-speaking world and easily eclipsed all previous versions of the Bible. Nonsectarian in tone and approach, it did not favor one shade of theological or ecclesiastical opinion over another. With the translators’ feeling for prose rhythm, never was a version of the Bible more admirably suited for reading aloud in public. It proved so acceptable that it remained for three centuries, without a serious rival version, the Bible of English-speaking Protestants. To this day, the King James Version remains deeply revered. The precision of translation for which it is historically renowned, the simple yet grand language, and its majesty of style enabled this version of the Word of God to become the mainspring of the religion, language, and legal foundations of English civilization. It has inspired virtually every great English writer since the seventeenth century—from John Dryden to Herman Melville to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “Without the King James Bible,” Alister McGrath stated, “there would have been no Paradise Lost, no Pilgrim’s Progress, no Handel’s Messiah, no Negro spirituals, and no Gettysburg Address.” These, and innumerable other works, were inspired by the language of this Bible. That the culture of the English-speaking world would have been immeasurably diminished without this Bible is certain.
John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress as illustrated by H. C. Selous and M. Paolo Priolo in the 1850 edition.
Before the King James Version
the old english versions | Until the
beginning of the sixteenth century, all Bible versions in the language of the masses of Western Europe were based on the Latin Vulgate. Among these, the Old English versions are of special interest. Most of these versions consisted of only parts of the Bible, and even these had limited circulation. In this period few of the people of England could read. Many of the familiar stories of the Bible were turned into verse and set to music so they could be sung and memorized. Caedmon, the unlettered poet of Whitby, is said to have turned the whole biblical history of salvation into song in the seventh century. Bede, the monk of Jarrow and greatest scholar in the first half of the eighth century, devoted the last part of his life to turning the Gospel of John into English so it could be read by the common people. Alfred the Great, king of a large part of south足ern and western England, defeated the Danish invaders in 878. He published a code of laws that was introduced by an Old English translation of the Ten Commandments and other brief passages from the Bible. The parts of the Bible most favored for trans足lation during this period were those often read or recited during worship services, especially the Psalms and the Gospels. An Old English version of the Psalms by Bishop Aldhelm dates from soon after 700. A manuscript called the Wessex Gospels dates from the middle of the tenth century. Some of the earliest Old Testament versions of the Scripture were written between the lines of Latin manuscripts. The manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels (now in the British Museum, London) was produced originally in Latin shortly before 700. Two and a half centuries later a priest named Aldred wrote between the lines of the text a literal translation in the Northumbrian dialect of Old English. Bible texts of this type, with some letters decorated in gold and silver, are known as illuminated manuscripts. t King Alfred the Great was one of the best kings ever to rule. He defended Anglo-Saxon England from Viking raids, formulated a code of laws, and fostered a rebirth of religious and scholarly activity. His reign exhibited military skill and innovation, sound governance, the ability to inspire men and plan for the future, piety, and a practical commitment to the support of religion, personal scholarship, and education.
For the first time, England was reading one Bible at home and hearing the same Bible at church. Albert S. Cook said, “It thus became bound up with the life of the nation. Since it stilled all controversy over the best rendering, it gradually came to be accepted as so far absolute in the minds of myriads there was no distinction between this version and the original texts, and they may almost be said to have believed in the literal inspiration of the very words that composed it.” Yet the importance of the Bible transcended that of personal religious devotion and faith. It became central to the life of English society in a way that we cannot begin to imagine today. Many families could afford only one book—a Bible—and for many years this was the only English translation of the Bible available. Generations of young people learned to read from the words they found in the King James Version. Many memorized biblical passages and found that their written and spoken English was shaped by the language and imagery of this Bible. For most readers, it was regarded as their social, economic, political, and spiritual text. The great Winston Churchill also noted that the scholars who produced the King James Version had forged an enduring link, literary and religious, between the English-speaking people spread across the world. This translation naturally became a part of their everyday life for many generations. Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009, said of it: “To read it is to feel simultaneously at home, a citizen of the world, and a traveler through eternity.”
13th-Century Parisian Bible This is the first hand-held version of the Latin Bible to contain the modern chapter divisions still used today. Handcopied, it took a scribe nearly a year to complete this book and 50-70 goats or sheep to make enough parchment.
“The scholars who produced this masterpiece are mostly unknown and unremembered. But they forged an enduring link, literary and religious, between the Englishspeaking people of the world.” sir winston churchill
Classic Biblical Phrasing the salt of the earth signs of the times a den of thieves seeing the writing on the wall the apple of his eye a thorn in the flesh being at our wits’ end an eye for an eye a lamb to the slaughter reaping what they sowed a leopard cannot change its spots the blind leading the blind by the skin of your teeth man shall not live by bread alone the salt of the earth O ye of little faith cast not your pearls before swine seek and ye shall find built his house upon the sand out of the mouth of babes thirty pieces of silver fight the good fight no rest for the wicked baptism of fire cast the first stone fall from grace
David Crystal, a linguistic expert on the development of the English language, adds that the King James Version “did something that nobody else had done, or nothing else had done in the history of the language previously. Not even Shakespeare had managed to do as much . . . no other text in the history of the English language has done as much as the Bible to shape our modern idiom.” Hundreds of idioms or figures of speech—semiproverbial or proverbial expressions that might have come from everyday usage but had never been made prominent in literature—became prominent through this Bible. C. S. Lewis said that whenever we use words such as “beautiful,” “longsuffering,” “peacemaker,” or “scapegoat,” it is due to the influ ence of the King James Version. However, it is not only in the words or the many phrases in our language that the force and influence of the King James Version is felt, but in the very rhythm of our language— the very way that we breathe and pause and rise and fall as we speak. Beyond that, David Simpson, a member of the British Parliament, said regarding the 400th anniversary of this translation, “It is not only our literature and language that has been influenced by the King James Version. It has had an extraordinary and beneficial influence upon political and constitutional affairs. It was the Bible of Milton and of the Protectorate; later, it was the Bible of the Glorious Revolution, which gave us a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. It was the Bible of Whitefield and the Wesleys that saved this realm from the brutality and blood of the French Revolution. It was the Bible carried by the founding fathers of the United States that helped to forge that land and give the world that great democratic powerhouse.” While men and women have celebrated the manifold influence of the King James Version for 400 years, Steven Houck reminds us that “even more important, we must recognize that the King James Version is the Word of God that He has graciously and lovingly given to His English-speaking Church. It is a faithful translation of the inspired originals that have been providentially preserved by God in the thousands of manuscripts that have come down to us. Thus we can be assured that with the King James Version of the Bible we have the authoritative Word of God.”
Before the King James Version
wycliffe’s version | In the early
Middle Ages, John Wycliffe (1330–1384), master of Balliol College, Oxford, and distinguished scholar and preacher, was the first to translate the entire Bible from Latin into the English language. As a pioneering social reformer, Wycliffe wanted to replace the feudal organi zation of state and church with a system that emphasized people’s direct responsibility to God. The constitution of this new order would be the law of God, which Wycliffe equated with the Bible. Before this could happen, the law of God had to be accessible to the laity as well as the clergy, the unlearned as well as the learned. This called for a Bible in English as well as Latin, so Wycliffe and his associates undertook the task of translating the entire Bible from the Latin Vulgate into contemporary English. There were two Wycliffe versions of the Bible—one produced between 1380 and 1384 during Wycliffe’s lifetime, and a later version completed in 1395. The early version is a thoroughly literal translation because it was intended to serve as the lawbook of the new order. The Latin text of the lawbook was already established, and the English text had to follow it word for word. About two-thirds
of this version was produced by one of Wycliffe’s supporters, Nicholas of Hereford. Wycliffe himself may have done some of the translation work on the remaining portion. By the time this first translation was completed, the movement with which this English social reformer was associated was condemned by the authorities. The second Wycliffe version was the work of his secretary, John Purvey. It was based on the earlier version, but it rendered the text into idiomatic English. Purvey’s version became very popular, although its circulation was suppressed in 1408 by a document known as the “Constitutions of Oxford,” which forbade anyone to translate or even to read any part of the Bible in English without the permission of a bishop or a local church council. These constitutions remained in force for more than a century. t
The beginning of the Gospel of John in a copy of John Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible. This copy was made in the late 14th century and was pocket sized, probably for the use of a wandering preacher, perhaps a Lollard. The edition contained only segments of the New Testament.
Painting of William Tyndale, whose significant translation work eventually found its way into the King James Version of the Bible— more than 80 percent of his New Testament and over 75 percent of his Old Testament.
Before the King James Version
tyndale’s version | Making the Bible
available in the tongue of common people was a major strategy of Martin Luther, who was the dyna mic leader of the Protestant Reformation (1517–) in Germany. The appearance of his German New Testament (1522), followed by the complete German Bible (1534) were a catalyst in a new religious movement that culminated in the mid-seventeenth century. What Luther did for the Germans, William Tyndale did for the people of England. After completing his studies at the University of Oxford and Cambridge, Tyndale (c. 1495–1536) devoted his time and talents to providing his fellow Englishmen with the Scriptures in their own language. He hoped that
the bishop of London would sponsor his project of translating the Bible, but the bishop refused. Tyndale then went to Germany in 1524 to undertake his project. By August of 1525 his English New Testament was complete. Tyndale began printing his new version at Cologne, but this was interrupted by the city authorities. The printing work was then carried through by Peter Schoeffer in Worms, Germany, who produced an edition of 6,000 copies. Soon this new Bible was selling in England, although the Church officially banned it. One risked death by burning if caught in mere possession of the forbidden book. Tyndale’s translation differed in two important respects from the versions of Wycliffe. It was rend ered not from the Latin language but from the Greek original, and it circulated in printed form, not as a handcopied manuscript. From the New Testament, Tyndale moved to the Old, issuing an edition of the Pentateuch, then the Book of Jonah, and a revision of Genesis. Later, in 1534, Tyndale issued a revision of his New Testament, justly described as “altogether Tyndale’s noblest monument.” A further revision of the New Testament appeared in 1535. In May of that year Tyndale was arrested. After an imprisonment of 17 months, he was sen tenced to death as a heretic; he was strangled and burned at the stake at Vilvoorde, Belgium, on October 6, 1536. Tyndale started a tradition in the history of the English Bible that has endured to this day. What is commonly called “Bible English” is really Tyndale’s English. His wording in those portions of the Bible that he translated was retained in the King James Version to a great degree. t
“I perceived how that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue.” william tyndale
coverdale & matthew | At the time
of Tyndale’s death, a printed edition of the English Bible, bearing a dedication to King Henry VIII, had been circulating in England for nearly a year. This was the first edition of the Bible issued by Miles Coverdale (1488–1568), one of Tyndale’s friends and associates. This English version reproduced Tyndale’s translation of the Pentateuch and the New Testament; the rest of the Old Testament was translated into English from Latin and German versions. Coverdale’s Bible of 1535 was the first complete English Bible in print. A second and third edition appeared in 1537. The title page bore the words: “Set forth with the King’s most gracious licence.” But this was not the only English Bible to appear in 1537 with these words on the title page. Another of Tyndale’s associates, John Rogers, published an edition of the Bible that year under the name, “Thomas Matthew.” “Matthew’s Bible” was similar to Coverdale’s with one exception: its translation of the historical books from Joshua to 2 Chronicles was one that Tyndale had finished without publish ing before his death. t
the great bible | Official policy toward
the translation and circulation of the Bible in England changed quickly when King Henry broke with the Roman Catholic pope in Rome in 1534, but deeper factors were at work. A landmark in the history of the English Bible was the royal injunction of September 1538, directing that “one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English” should be placed in every parish church in England where the people could have access to it. When this decree was issued, another version of the Bible—the “Great Bible”— was being prepared so this commandment could be followed. Publication of the Great Bible was in 1539. The Great Bible was Coverdale’s revision of Matthew’s Bible, which means that it was essentially a copy of Tyndale’s translation. It quickly became the “authorized version” of the English Bible. The pages measured 9" x 15". One part of the Great Bible remained in use long after the version as a whole had been replaced by later and better versions. To this day the Psalter in the Book of Common Prayer that is sung in the services of the Church of England is the Psalms contained in the Great Bible. t
Nineteenth-Century Revisions In 1870, the Church of England initiated plans for a revision of the King James Version. The reasons given for revision included the outdated English, the progress made by scholars in understanding, and the availability of additional texts of the original biblical languages, especially the Greek text of the New Testament. Two groups of revisers were appointed, one for the Old Testament and one for the New. Before long, parallel companies of revisers were set up in the United States. At first these groups worked under the hope that one version might be produced for both England and the United States. But this was not to be. The American scholars, conservative as they were in their procedure, could not be bound by the stricter conservatism of their British counterparts. The three installments of the British Revised Version (rv) appeared in 1881, in 1885, and in 1894. The American version, or American Standard Version (asv), was released in 1901, but did not include the Apocrypha. In 1881, the scholars who developed the Revised Version had this to say about the King James Version: We have had to study this great Version carefully and minutely, line by line; and the longer we have been engaged upon it the more we have learned to admire its simplicity, its dignity, its power, its happy turns of expression, its general accuracy, and, we must not fail to add, the music of its cadences and the felicities of its rhythm. The RV and ASV were solid works of scholarship but did not gain popular acceptance, mainly because their translators, it was said, paid insufficient attention to style and rhythm as they rendered the biblical languages into precise English.
Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Revisions revised standard version The Revised Standard Version (rsv) was launched as a revision of the King James Version (1611), RV (1885), and ASV (1901). Authorized by the International Council of Religious Education, it is copyrighted by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches in the USA. The New Testament first appeared in 1946, the Old Testament in 1952, and the Apocrypha in 1957. A new edition in 1962 incorporated 85 minor changes in wording. A Catholic edition of the RSV was released in 1966. In 1971 a second edition of the RSV New Testament appeared. A completely revised edition of the RSV, the New Revised Standard Version (nrsv) was published in 1990. new american standard bible An editorial board of 54 scholars began work on the New American Standard Bible (nasb) translation in the 1960s. It was intended to be a new and revised translation based on the ASV (1901). Sponsored by the Lockman Foundation, the complete Bible of the NASB was published in 1971 after 11 years of careful scholarly work. The translators used the most respected Hebrew and Greek texts available. The editorial board has continued to function since publication of the Bible, making minor revisions and refinements. In 1995, an updated edition of the NASB was published.
Before the King James Version
the geneva bible | During the reign of
Mary Tudor (“Bloody Mary”) of England (1553– 1558), many English Reformers sought refuge in other parts of Europe because of her policy of persecution and the execution of hundreds for the “crime” of being a Protestant. One community of English refugees settled in Geneva, Switzerland, where John Knox was pastor of the English congregation and where John Calvin dominated theological study. Many of these English refugees were fine scholars, and they began work on a new English version of the Bible. A preliminary edition of the New Testament (Whittingham’s New Testament) was published in 1557. This was the first edition of any part of the English Bible to have the text divided into verses. The whole Bible appeared in 1560. This “Geneva Bible” was the first English Bible to be translated in its entirety from the original biblical languages. Widely recognized as the best English version of the Bible that had yet appeared, it quickly became the accepted version in Scotland. In England it also attained quick popularity among the people, although it was not accepted by Church officials—its extensive marginal notes and comments represented a strong Calvinist tone not acceptable to the leaders of the Church of England and the state. After the publication of the King James Version in 1611, the Geneva Bible remained popular. This was the Bible that the Pilgrims and Puritans took with them to the New World. The Geneva Bible was printed regularly until 1644. t
Colored title page from the Bishops’ Bible quarto edition of 1569, the British Museum.
the bishops’ bible | The rival version to
the Geneva Bible sponsored by Anglican authorities in England was published in 1568. It was called the Bishops’ Bible because the chief translators were either bishops in the Church of England at the time or became bishops later. It was a good translation, based throughout on the original languages; but it was not as sound in scholarship as the Geneva Bible. t
the douay-rheims bible | A generation
before the appearance of the King James Version, an English version of the Bible for Roman Catholics was undertaken by the faculty of the English College at Douay and Rheims in France. It was not translated from the original languages but from the Latin Vulgate. The translator was Gregory Martin, formerly an Oxford scholar, whose initial work was then revised by two of his colleagues. The New Testament portion of this version was published in 1582 and was extensively used by the King James translators. The Old Testament was published in 1609–1610 and was too late for any such influence. Although it was a scholarly and accu rate translation, the English style and vocabulary was modeled on Latin usage. Revised by Richard Challoner between 1759 and 1772, it remained the only version of the Bible officially sanctioned for English-speaking Catholics until 1945. t
The Geneva Bible, which was published in 1560, was the first English Bible to be translated in its entirety from the original biblical languages.
new king james version During its long history, the King James Version has been updated and revised several times to reflect changes in speech as well as growing knowledge of the original text of the Scriptures. Previous major revisions of this translation were issued in 1629, 1638, 1762, and 1769. During the 1970s, Thomas Nelson Pub lishers sensed the need for a fifth major revision of the KJV using updated English and employing the best results of conservative biblical scholarship. Over 130 Bible scholars were selected to work on the New King James Version (nkjv). The translators worked from the earliest and most trustworthy Hebrew and Greek texts available (including the traditional text of the Greek New Testament) and used the 1769 King James revision as its standard to make sure the new edition preserved the majestic style and devotional quality of the original King James. The most noticeable change in the NKJV is the replacement of “thees” and “thous” and other archaic pronouns with their modern English equivalent. The “-est” and “-eth” verb endings also were eliminated in favor of more contemporary English forms. The New Testament with Psalms was released in 1980, followed by the full Bible in 1982. english standard version The English Standard Version (esv), a revision of the Revised Standard Version, was published in 2001. The publishing team included more than a hundred scholars who served under the auspices of the Good News Publishers. The 1971 RSV text provided the starting point for the committee’s work. Archaic language was brought to current usage and significant corrections were made in the translation of key texts. But throughout, say the publishers, the goal was “to retain the depth of meaning and enduring language that have made their indelible mark on the English-speaking world and have defined the life and doctrine of the church over the last four centuries.”
The New King James Version, the modern Bible version that stands most directly in the King James tradition, was first published in 1982.
ither in its original form or one of its derivatives, the King James Version has been the standard Bible used by the English-speaking world for 400 years. No other printed work before or since has so profoundly influenced our language, our culture, and our theology. Beloved for its majestic phrasing and stately cadences, the KJV remains fixed in our common speech, and its echoes can be heard throughout our literature. Generations of believers have studied and committed its passages to memory, being comforted and warned and enlightened in the process. This valued legacy continues to impact millions of lives today, a testimony to the profound achievement and lasting worth of the King James Version.
Copyright Š 2010 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Some imagery compliments of The Bible Museum/GreatSite.com