King James Bible is an English translation of the Christian Bible . Originally completed in 1611, the King James Bible has long been the most influential and widely used translation of the Bible among readers of English. It is also called the King James Version and the Authorized Version.
Background.
The demand for a new English translation of the Bible arose in the late 1500’s for several reasons. The Reformation raised important questions about how to interpret the Bible and which version to use for public reading and teaching. The Reformation was a religious movement of the 1500’s that led to Protestantism . In England, disputes about such matters developed between the Church of England and a group of religious reformers called Puritans . The Church of England is the national church of England .
Scholarly understanding of Greek and Hebrew manuscripts also increased in the late 1500’s. This new knowledge revealed some of the shortcomings of such earlier English Bible translations as the Great Bible (1539), the Geneva Bible (1560), and the Bishops’ Bible (1568).
In 1604, King James I of England called the Hampton Court Conference to settle disputes within the Church of England. Puritans at the meeting wanted the Geneva Bible to replace the Bishops’ Bible as the version favored in the Church of England. In response, James called for a new English translation of the Bible.
The translation
was prepared by about 50 men divided into six committees called companies. Each company translated different portions of the Bible. All the translators belonged to the Church of England. The vast majority were also clergy. The companies included church members with Puritan sympathies. However, the methods used by the translators favored episcopal church government—that is, government by bishops. The Puritans favored presbyterian government by a council of elders.
The title page of the King James Bible stated that it was “newly translated” from Hebrew and Greek, as well as “compared and revised” against earlier translations. The translators used the Bishops’ Bible as their main guide. When the Bishops’ Bible proved inadequate, the translators turned to the Geneva and older English Bibles. They also appear to have consulted a wide range of other sources, including dictionaries, natural history texts, classical literature, and biblical commentaries.
The men who worked on the King James version of the New Testament relied upon a Greek version of the New Testament written by the Dutch theologian Desiderius Erasmus. They used his third edition, published in 1550 by the French printer and scholar Robert Estienne. They also used editions of Erasmus’s New Testament published by the French theologian Theodore Beza in 1588 and 1598.
Translators of the King James version of the Old Testament often turned for help to the Rabbinic Bible, a Hebrew version of the Jewish Bible . They used an edition published by Daniel Bomberg in 1524-1525. Bomberg was a Flemish-born printer working in Venice, Italy. In their treatment of the Jewish scriptures, the translators adjusted some passages to conform to the Septuagint and the Vulgate . The Septuagint is an ancient Greek translation of the Jewish Bible. The Vulgate is an early Latin translation of the Christian Bible. The translators especially preferred these versions when their wording supported a Christian interpretation of Jesus Christ as the Messiah (Savior).
The creators of the King James Bible avoided using a rigid, word-for-word method of translation. This approach allowed the translators to produce a fluid writing style that was easily understood by the general public.
Unlike the older Geneva Bible, the King James Bible does not include a continuous theological commentary on the translation. Each chapter begins with a minimal description of its contents. The translators briefly noted variant readings of ancient manuscripts and other possible translations of words and phrases. By limiting their notes, they avoided raising theological controversies. They also made the King James Bible more appealing to a wide range of religious groups.
Influence.
After it was completed in 1611, the King James Bible gradually replaced earlier English-language Bibles. Passages from the King James Bible appeared in the Book of Common Prayer, the official prayer book of the Church of England, after it was revised in 1662. By the mid-1700’s, different editions of the King James Bible showed broad variation in spelling and typesetting. In 1769, Oxford University Press published an edition of the King James Bible intended to resolve such variation. This Oxford standard edition remains in use today.
English translations of the Bible written after the King James Bible have incorporated a greater knowledge of ancient history and manuscripts. However, the King James Bible remains unsurpassed for its longstanding influence on the art, language, and religious imagination of English-speaking peoples.
