King James Bible

The King James Bible (1611) is widely considered one of the most significant books in world history. It permanently impacted the English language, the Church of England, and the societal development of the United States. Learning about the history of the King James Bible is thus critical to understanding the English language.

King James Bible History

To understand the history of the King James Bible, it is helpful to know about the history of the Bible. The Bible is the holy scripture of Christianity. Scholars believe that the original Bible stories were passed down orally and eventually recorded on manuscripts. The book is split into two parts: the Old and New Testaments. The Hebrew manuscripts that make up the Old Testament date back to around 500 B.C.E. The New Testament is about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, dating back to the first century C.E. The structure of the Bible was revised many times. Today it comprises 66 books written by over 40 authors, dating back to around 400 C.E.

For years, the Bible was always handwritten in Latin. But in the 1450s, the invention of the printing press changed everything. The printer Johannes Gutenberg printed the first complete book of the Bible in 1455. The printing press made it possible to mass produce this text and spread it around the West. The Gutenberg Bible was printed in Latin, in 42-line columns.

Fig. 1 - It was long forbidden to produce the Bible in English.

Latin is the traditional language of the church, so the idea of an English-language Bible was considered scandalous for a long time. In fact, creating an English-language Bible was actually illegal in England because it was forbidden to translate the Bible into any vernacular language. However, many English-speaking people could not speak Latin, which made the Bible inaccessible. The English linguist William Tyndale believed that the Bible should be made more accessible, so in 1526 he printed around 3,000 copies of an English version. He was executed for this crime, and the English authorities destroyed most copies. Today, there are only three known copies of Tyndale's Bible.

King James Bible Origin

Meanwhile, England was facing tumultuous religious times. In 1517, the monk Martin Luther criticized Christianity in his 95 Theses, sparking a societal split into Catholics and multiple sects of Protestants. In 1534, King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife Catherine (which the Catholic Church didn't allow), so he replaced the pope as the head of the Church of England. In 1538, Henry approved the publication of an English translation of the Bible called the Great Bible. Although it was incomplete and not very accurate, it was the first authorized English Bible and the only one approved for Anglican worship, one of the branches of Protestantism.

Fig. 2 - King Henry VIII made history when he took over the Church of England.

Henry VIII's Protestant son Edward VI ruled the throne after him. Queen Mary I, a Catholic, followed Edward. While Mary was in power, several Protestant scholars fled to Geneva, Switzerland, and published the Geneva Bible (1560). The Geneva Bible was another incomplete yet significant English translation of the Bible, notable for its Calvinistic annotations and numbered verses.

Many Anglicans, like the Archbishop of Canterbury, objected to the Geneva Bible and responded to it by replacing the Great Bible with an extensively revised version called the Bishop's Bible (1568). By the time King James I took the throne in 1603, people were reading the Calvinistic Geneva Bible at home and hearing the Bishop's Bible at church.

In 1604, King James presided over the Hampton Court Conference, a meeting devoted to religious issues. At the conference, he spoke out against the Geneva Bible. He was angered by its Calvinistic tones and upset about England's lack of religious unity. Two Puritans suggested that they produce a new translation of the Bible in English and James approved. Over the next few years, a committee of scholars and clergymen worked to produce the world's first legal, accurate, and complete English translation of the Bible.

Fig. 3. - King James. I was from Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Original King James Bible

The translators who worked on the original King James Bible spent years studying Latin, Greek, and Hebrew manuscripts. Their careful, focused work ensured that the book was the most accurate translation of the Bible ever produced in its time.

Written in Early Modern English, the text is still celebrated for its literary style. It was the first Bible to include poetic cadences and detailed images. The text also included passages from original manuscripts that were not in early versions of English Bibles.

The quality and reach of the King James Bible had a profound impact on the Western world. The printing press made it accessible to more people than ever before. When Puritans, Presbyterians, and Methodists began colonizing North America, they brought the King James Bible with them. It was this text that laid the religious foundations of the United States.

Fig. 4 - English colonizers brought the King James Bible to North America.

New King James Bible

In 1975, the Baptist pastor Arthur Farstad, along with many other pastors and biblical scholars, sought to update the translation of the King James Bible. They modernized the language in the text so it was easier for contemporary readers to read. The translators drew from the same Greek, Hebrew, and Latin manuscripts as the original King James Bible, but made changes to the grammar and vocabulary. Published in 1979 and later updated and completed in 1982, the publication company Thomas Nelson claimed it was "scrupulously faithful to the original, yet truly updated to enhance its clarity and readability." ¹

King James Bible Verses

The writing in the original King James Bible is known for being rhythmical and poetic. The New King James Bible is as well, but its emphasis is more on translating the concepts in the Bible in a readable manner, while the focus of the original is the literary quality. For instance, consider the two translations of Psalm 23: 1-2:

While the differences in the above excerpts are subtle, the Early Modern English in the first excerpt adds a more musical quality to the writing. In contrast, the second excerpt makes the idea easier to understand.

Influence of King James Bible

The King James Bible had a profound impact on the English language as it is known today. It contributed 257 new phrases to the English language, which is more than any other text! To compare, the impactful works of William Shakespeare contributed about half of that number.²

Since the King James Bible was printed and read by so many people, the new phrases became increasingly popular until they were embedded into everyday vernacular. For example, the following list features some of the phrases the King James Bible introduced and became well-known in the English language:

• The root of the matter

• My brother's keeper

• A fly in the ointment

• To everything there is a season

• Let there be light

• Bite the dust

• A drop in the bucket

• The skin of my teeth

The linguist David Crystal is known for pointing out the nuances of the Bible's influence on the English language. Crystal notes that some phrases in the King James Bible like "My brother's keeper" have become so popular they are used in everyday conversation and popular culture. Meanwhile, others phrases, like the words Jesus says before he dies, are so emotional and so sacred to believers that they have not been adapted into everyday language.

Some common terms and phrases were also adapted from lines in the King James Bible. For example, Jeremiah 13:23 states, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" Today, the popular rhetorical question about a leopard changing his spots is rooted in this line.

¹ "New King James Version." Thomas Nelson Bibles. 2022

² David Crystal "Begat: The King James Bible & the English Language." 2010.