King James Bible
A.D. 1611
aka "Authorized Version"
Prince James VI of Scotland became King James I of England in 1603. Although not particularly academic or religiously inclined, he was a king who desired peace among his subjects and with other nations.
When James ascended to the throne, the bishops of the Church of England were quite dissatisfied with the critical column notes of the Geneva Bible, first published in 1560 in Geneva. The Geneva Bible was a reformation Bible translated by English exiles having fled to continental Europe to escape the persecution of Queen Mary I (xx). It contained many column notes critical of ecclesiastical authorities (both Roman Catholic and Anglican), and had become very popular among English readers. The Anglican bishops had first attempted to stem its popularity by joining Bishop Matthew Parker to translate and publish the Bishops’ Bible in 1568. Failing to convince English readers to change their Bibles, the Anglican bishops made another attempt by convincing King James I to allow a uniform translation ratified by royal authority.
When the Anglican church leaders met in 1604 at the Hampton Court Conference convened by the new King, they followed the lead of John Reynolds of Oxford to request that King James I authorize a new English Bible translation with “royal authority.” King James I consented and issued a resolution,
"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."
He subsequently appointed fifty-four (54) scholars to engage in the new translation (although only forty-seven are known to have participated), working in six groups at Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford. They were to use the available original language manuscripts as much as possible, but they also consulted all of the previous English translations of the Bible. When completed the work was compiled, and the first edition of what is called the “King James Bible” or the “Authorized Version,” was published in London by Robert Barker in A.D. 1611.
The first edition was a large folio (16 inches tall) with Gothic/blackletter text, entitled, "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 first edition was soon discovered to have a masculine pronoun, “he” in reference to Ruth (3:15). A second run, utilizing some of the original printed pages corrected the misprint. These are referred to as the “he” and “she” variations of the first edition – both have two columns with 59 lines of text per column. A second large folio edition of the King James Bible, completely reset in blackletter text with 72 lines per column, was published in 1613, incorporating over 300 changes and corrections.
Based, as it was, primarily on the Bishops’ Bible of 1568, and utilizing a large percentage of the phraseology of the original Tyndale New Testament (1526), even using vocabulary from the Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible (1610), but consulting the best Hebrew and Greek sources available at the time, the translators achieved a beautiful and flowing English Bible in the vernacular of seventeenth century English. It achieved its intended purpose in surpassing the popularity of the Geneva Bible, the last edition of which was printed in 1644. Whether the King James Bible became more prominent by the popular demand of the Bible-reading public or by the efforts of the English authorities to suppress the printing and reading of the Geneva Bible remain debatable. Regardless, the Authorized Version/King James Bible became the most popular English Bible for the almost 250 years, and the most printed book in the history of the world. Only in the second half of the twentieth century was the dominance of the King James Bible displaced by the proliferation of modern English translations.
When James ascended to the throne, the bishops of the Church of England were quite dissatisfied with the critical column notes of the Geneva Bible, first published in 1560 in Geneva. The Geneva Bible was a reformation Bible translated by English exiles having fled to continental Europe to escape the persecution of Queen Mary I (xx). It contained many column notes critical of ecclesiastical authorities (both Roman Catholic and Anglican), and had become very popular among English readers. The Anglican bishops had first attempted to stem its popularity by joining Bishop Matthew Parker to translate and publish the Bishops’ Bible in 1568. Failing to convince English readers to change their Bibles, the Anglican bishops made another attempt by convincing King James I to allow a uniform translation ratified by royal authority.
When the Anglican church leaders met in 1604 at the Hampton Court Conference convened by the new King, they followed the lead of John Reynolds of Oxford to request that King James I authorize a new English Bible translation with “royal authority.” King James I consented and issued a resolution,
"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."
He subsequently appointed fifty-four (54) scholars to engage in the new translation (although only forty-seven are known to have participated), working in six groups at Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford. They were to use the available original language manuscripts as much as possible, but they also consulted all of the previous English translations of the Bible. When completed the work was compiled, and the first edition of what is called the “King James Bible” or the “Authorized Version,” was published in London by Robert Barker in A.D. 1611.
The first edition was a large folio (16 inches tall) with Gothic/blackletter text, entitled, "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 first edition was soon discovered to have a masculine pronoun, “he” in reference to Ruth (3:15). A second run, utilizing some of the original printed pages corrected the misprint. These are referred to as the “he” and “she” variations of the first edition – both have two columns with 59 lines of text per column. A second large folio edition of the King James Bible, completely reset in blackletter text with 72 lines per column, was published in 1613, incorporating over 300 changes and corrections.
Based, as it was, primarily on the Bishops’ Bible of 1568, and utilizing a large percentage of the phraseology of the original Tyndale New Testament (1526), even using vocabulary from the Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible (1610), but consulting the best Hebrew and Greek sources available at the time, the translators achieved a beautiful and flowing English Bible in the vernacular of seventeenth century English. It achieved its intended purpose in surpassing the popularity of the Geneva Bible, the last edition of which was printed in 1644. Whether the King James Bible became more prominent by the popular demand of the Bible-reading public or by the efforts of the English authorities to suppress the printing and reading of the Geneva Bible remain debatable. Regardless, the Authorized Version/King James Bible became the most popular English Bible for the almost 250 years, and the most printed book in the history of the world. Only in the second half of the twentieth century was the dominance of the King James Bible displaced by the proliferation of modern English translations.
