English Bible

		*Crying In the Wilderness* *Web Ministry*
Home Reference Articles/Sermons		English Bible History Some time ago I wrote in defense of the King James Version Bible. I was a staunch supporter of its infallibility and truly remain as such. However, God has caused mine eyes to be opened to the errors we have committed while in defense of this great work. I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul when it was reported to him that some preached Christ out of strife, contention or pretence. In the 1^st chapter and 18^th verse of his epistle to the Philippians, we find “What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” I will choose to heed Paul’s meaning and apply it to translations as he did to preaching although it goes against my flesh. My goal here is not to scare you if you are not reading and studying a King James Version Bible but rather to show you why I prefer it above all other English translations and believe it to be the most fruitful for your spiritual growth. As with any history and even with this message, one’s influence and bias spills into the work. Though most claim that they are just stating the facts, the fact is, if we look closer, their bias remains. I have openly stated that I support the King James Version, I was raised that way and have never belonged to any Church that didn’t use it as their sole source for faith and practice. For starters, let’s look at the original languages or tongues in which the scriptures were transcribed? Hebrew was the primary language in which the Old Testament was transcribed with some small parts in what is called Biblical Arabic. The New Testament was completely written in Greek although some scholars believe that the Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew and transcribed into Greek. Another important language to keep in mind is the Latin that was utilized by the Roman Church in which the original tongues were first transcribed. The Old Testament is often referred to or broken down into three parts: the Torah (or the law), the Nevi'im (or the prophets) and the Ketuvim (or the writings). The New Testament is broken down into four groups: the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles and the Apocalypse. I don’t think it coincidence that there are seven distinct groupings of the Holy Scriptures as God leaves nothing to chance. While there are many that have never been taught the slightest crumb about the origins of the scriptures, I believe it to be important to know what great sacrifices have been made in order for us to enjoy the privilege of having our own personal copy of these most sacred writings. I believe that many of us (including myself) take for granted the fact that our God has seen to it that we have a copy of the law that was first given to His servant Moses. He has also seen that we have a copy of the visions, revelations and prophecies that were given unto His Holy Prophets along with the writings of the Minor Prophets and such beautiful prose as is found in the Song of Solomon and the Psalms of David. How wonderful it is to have access to the original eye-witness accounts concerning the life of our Lord and Savior that we find in the four Gospels. How joyful we should be that an account of the Acts of the Apostles is available for our reading enjoyment, our spiritual growth and our comfort. What about the Epistles? These were letters from the Lord’s Apostles to the established Churches at that time. These letters were the basis used to form our Churches of today. Last but not least is the Revelation of John or what is sometimes called the Apocalypse. While this is no doubt a fearful read, there is much comfort and hope found within for the child of God. Now that we begin to see how much God loved us to preserve this record, let’s look at the hardships many faithful souls endured in order for us to enjoy this gracious liberty? First of all as mentioned before, the original manuscripts were in Hebrew, Biblical Arabic and Greek. The established Church with her seat in Rome had these manuscripts translated into their native tongue, i.e. “Latin”. As most common people could not read, it was left up to the local priest to read the scriptures and expound upon their meaning. There was no authorized text at this time and many translations had multiple errors and omissions. This situation was the norm throughout the dark ages as the Church of Rome held sway over the common man who did not have access to these Holy Writings and were at the mercy of Rome as to what was contained in them and what they meant. Most accounts I’ve found validate that the majority of the Roman Church experienced corruption during this time. The selling of indulgences or in other words, the forgiveness of sin in exchange for payment to the Church by the perpetrator was common. This is one of the main points that didn’t set well with Martin Luther prompting him to reject the popish doctrines and nail what is called his 95 thesis to the door of the Church that many scholars agree officially marked the start of the Protestant Reformation. Much research that I’ve conducted tends to point that there were pockets of believers who did not go along with the Roman Church from the beginning. It would be wise to remember that God always leaves Himself a remnant. While researching Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, you will find that the Roman Church had put to death thousands who defied its teachings prior to the arrival of the Protestant Reformation but we will not focus on that but rather stay the course on how the Scripture became available to me and you. In order to keep this simple, our Bibles today come from one of two texts, either the majority or (received text) known as the Textus Receptus or the minority texts, i.e. the Codex Vatanicus and/or the Codex Sinaiticus. The “received text” came from manuscripts translated at Antioch in Syria where the Apostles labored and were first called Christians. The origin of the “minority texts” came from Alexandria Egypt to which Egypt throughout the Bible represents darkness, sin and bondage. It would be wise to never forget that the Holy Scriptures teach us that a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. You can find this in Genesis 46:34 “That ye shall say, Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.” Now that we see this Scripture, let us also remember that our Savior is the “Good Shepherd.” Just from my viewpoint, I had rather use a translation that originated in Antioch versus Egypt because of the spiritual references contained in the Scripture concerning Egypt. Also remember that the majority texts were used for all English translations until the nineteenth century when Wescott and Hort began their work on what eventually became the English Revised Edition, the American Standard and the New International Versions. Of course Wescott and Hort used the minority or Egyptian texts for their foundation. The first sign of an English translation came with John Wycliffe who began to translate portions of the Bible into the English Language during the 1380’s. Wycliffe’s translations came from the Latin Vulgate which was the only source text available to him. The Roman Church held the position that the Scriptures should not be translated nor spoken in the “vulgar” tongue, i.e English, German, etc. although their own language “Latin” was not considered vulgar. Wycliffe know as the “Morning Star of the Reformation” so infuriated the Pope by his work that 44 years after his death the Pope had his bones dug-up so they could be crushed and scattered in the river. John Wycliffe Wycliffe had a follower by the name of John Hus who carried on Wycliffe’s work after his demise. Hus as did Wycliffe envisioned a world where everyone could read the Bible in their own language. Rome at this point was breathing threatening to execute anyone found possessing a non-Latin Bible. John met his demise by being burned at the stake in 1415 and Wycliffe’s manuscripts were used as kindling. It has been reported that Hus said “in 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.” It was 1517 when Luther nailed his Theses of Contention to the door of the Church at Wittenburg. John Hus Of interest to this subject is the printing press which was invented by Johann Gutenberg during the 1450’s and the first book ever to be printed was the Bible in the Latin language. I find it a little amusing that his birh name was “Johann Gensfleich” which translated into English means (John Gooseflesh) and I don’t blame him for changing his name to “Johann Gutenberg” which translates to (John Beautiful Mountain). Gutenberg was swindled by crooked business associates and died in poverty. Now that the press was invented, this gave the Protestant Reformation a mighty tool to spread the printed word. Johann Gutenberg Thomas Linacre was an Oxford professor and personal physician to the English Kings Henry the 7th and 8th. Thomas decided to learn Greek and then after reading the Gospels in the original Greek declared either the original Greek is not the Gospel or we are not Christians. He reported how corrupt the Latin Vulgate had become although it remained a crime punishable by death to read the scripture in any other language than Latin (which of course the Bible was not originally written in). Thomas Linacre John Colet, the son of London’s Mayor and a professor at Oxford began to translate the New Testament from the Greek into English and reading it in Saint Paul’s Cathedral. It is reported that within six months, 20,000 people attended the readings with about the same number outside who could not get in. I find it sad that modern attendance at Saint Paul’s is calculated at around 200 on Sunday mornings and most of them are tourists. Colet, because of his social position managed to avoid execution. John Colet Hearing the reports concerning the corruptness of the Latin Vulgate as reported by Linacre and Colet, Erasmus published a fresh rendering of the New Testament in Greek-Latin during 1516. He had acquired a half-dozen old Greek manuscripts. This was the first text of the scripture to not have been translated from Jerome’s Latin-Vulgate in over a thousand years. Erasmus stressed how corrupt the Latin Vulgate had became and how important it was to get back to the original texts. Many consider his works as being the foundation for the received or majority texts. Erasmus William Tyndale was the first man to print the New Testament into the English Language. He was labeled the “Captain of the Army of Reformers”. Fluent in eight languages to the extent that anyone would think each of the eight to be his native tongue. William Tyndale Martin Luther, of whom I’ve already mentioned, nailed his Thesis to the Church door on Halloween in 1517. He was later exiled from the Church in 1521 at the Diet of Worms Council which was originally designed to martyr him. Luther took Erasmus’ Greek-Latin New Testament and translated it to German in 1522. He published the Pentateuch in 1523 and another edition of the New Testament in 1529 and then the entire Bible in German during the 1530’s. Tyndale showed up on Luther’s doorstep in 1525 wanting to use the Erasmus works to publish an English version of the New Testament. Tyndale was on the run and had fled England amidst rumors that he was undertaking such a project. While inquisitors and bounty hunters were on his trail, he printed his first version in 1526. Tyndale’s editions were often elaborately illustrated and were burned as soon as a Bishop could confiscate them. It is said that a copy ended up in King Henry VIII’s bedroom. The more resistance offered by the Bishop and the King, the more the people was interested and desired a copy. You were subject to be burned at the stake if you were found in possession of Tyndale’s edition. The issue the Church was most concerned with is that if people had the Bible in their own language, they would no longer get away with the selling of indulgences and the process of collecting fees enabling souls to get out of purgatory which by the way is not in the Bible and is totally a Roman Catholic manufactured doctrine. This also endangered the doctrine of salvation by works and not of grace as well as would put to naught the practice of saint worship. Only two known copies of Tyndale’s first edition are in existence today. He was hunted for 11 years while books and Bibles reach England hidden in bales of cotton or sacks of flour. What was funny is his biggest customer was the King. They would buy up copies in order to burn them and he would use the money to print more and more copies. Tyndale was betrayed by a friend, captured and imprisoned for 500 days before being strangled and burned at the stake in 1536. It is said that his last words were “Oh Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” Martin Luther Tyndale had two loyal followers, Myles Coverdale and John “Thomas Matthew” Rogers who carried his project forward after his demise. Coverdale translated the Old Testament in 1535 and printed the first complete English Bible using Luther’s and other Latin texts as sources. Myles Coverdale Rogers went on to print the second complete English Bible in 1537 and was the first English Bible translated from the original Hebrew and Greek. He used an alias “Thomas Matthew” as the author of his works which Tyndale had also used. John Rogers The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer under direction of Henry VIII hired Coverdale to publish the “Great Bible” in 1539. It was the first English Bible authorized for public use and was distributed to the Churches and chained to the pulpit. Thomas Cranmer It never ceases to amaze me how our God uses evil men to our good and to accomplish His purpose. Henry VIII had requested that the Pope allow him to divorce his wife and marry his mistress. Of course the Pope refused so Henry just did it anyway. He renounced Roman Catholicism and declared himself head of the English Church which later became known as the Anglican Church. Henry willing to defy the Pope further authorized the printing of the English Bible. King Henry VIII Edward VI followed Henry to the throne and continued to be gracious to the growing Protestant movement but trouble lay ahead for Edward soon died. After Edward’s death, Mary took the throne with a vehement desire to return England to the Catholic faith. She had Rogers and Cranmer both burned at the stake in 1555 and burned hundreds for the simple crime of being a Protestant. This is known as the Marian Exile and Queen Mary is known as “Bloody” Mary. Queen Mary Many of those exiled found solace in Geneva, Switzerland where the Church was sympathetic to the refugees. Myles Coverdale, John Foxe along with theologian John Calvin and the Scottish Preacher John Knox were there with the refugees at Geneva. John Foxe is noted for his work in writing “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” which details the sufferings and martyrdom of God’s people from the Apostles to date. This work more than any other helped fuel the Protestant Reformation. John Foxe The most famous theological book ever written is Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and was authored by John Calvin who also had a hand in publishing the Geneva Bible in 1560. This Bible was also known as the “Breeches” Bible as they used the term “Breeches” instead of “Britches” in Genesis where God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. John Calvin The Geneva Bible was the first to have numbered verses in the chapters. It is considered to be the first English “Study Bible” as it had marginal notes and references. Shakespeare used this Bible for many quotes in his plays. The Geneva Bible is said to retain over 90% of Tyndale’s original translation. The Geneva version was the most popular English version for over 100 years until unseated by the King James. This was the first Bible to be carried to America but it has been out of print since 1644. After the reign of Bloody Mary, Elizabeth I took the throne and the reformers could again return to their homeland. A revision of the Great Bible known as the Bishop’s Bible was introduced in 1568 but never gained a strong foothold among the people. The Catholic Church realizing that they could suppress the Bible only to Latin no longer decided that if it is to be translated into English, they would have their version as well. The Rheims New Testament was translated using the corrupt Latin Vulgate as source text and was so called because it was translated at the College in the city of Rheims. The Church of Rome translated the Douay Old Testament in 1609 at the College in the city of Douay. John Knox When Elizabeth I passed away, James VI of Scotland became James I of England and was approached in 1604 by the Protestant clergy desiring a new Bible translation to replace the Bishop’s Bible. The Geneva Bible’s marginal notes proclaimed the Pope an Anti-Christ and they didn’t want Calvin and others opinions but simply scripture with cross-references. Although King James chose 54 men to tackle this monumental task, only 47 actually participated. The Tyndale New Testament, Coverdale Bible, Matthews Bible, Great Bible, Geneva Bible and even the Rheims New Testament were considered during this revision or if you would, translation to end all translations. The work began in 1605 with the scholars being engaged in research and assembled commencement began in 1607. This work went to press for the first time in 1611. These as the Bishop’s Bibles were first chained to the pulpits. The King James Version Bible was carefully translated using the Textus Receptus or the received text that Erasmus had worked so diligently on. This is the same text utilized by Tyndale, Luther and those who worked on the Geneva and the Bishop’s Bible. When James I. came to the throne of England he found the Established Church in a sadly divided state. There were Conformists, who were satisfied with things as then found, and were willing to conform to existing usages; and there were Puritans, who longed for a better state of things, and were determined to have it. These parties appealed to the king, and the Puritans had great hopes that he would favor their side. In October, 1603, James therefore called a conference, to meet in Hampton Court Palace, in the coming January, "for hearing and for the determining things pretended to be amiss in the Church." So far as the objects chiefly sought were concerned, this Conference was a failure, but there began the movement for the version of the English Bible, now so widely accepted. There were present on that occasion the leading divines, lawyers and laymen of the Church of England. Among them was Dr. John Reynolds, President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. On the second day of the conference, this gentleman, in the course of discussion, suggested to the king, that a new version was exceedingly desirable, because of the many errors in the version then in use. That suggestion led to the action which, after some little delay, inaugurated measures for King James' version. The Churchly party resisted the movement for a time, because they suspected some Puritan mischief to be behind it. On the other hand, the Puritan party pressed immediate action; and the king so managed affairs as to please both sides, and finally to secure their hearty cooperation. He very decidedly favored the proposition of the Puritans, but at the same time he pronounced the Genevan version to be the worst of all in the English language, and thereby pleased the Conformist party. Arrangements for this version were completed by the appointment of fifty-four learned men, who were also to secure the suggestions of all competent persons, that, as the king put it, "our said translation may have the help and furtherance of all our principal learned men within this our kingdom." This attitude of the king, the removal of their first suspicions, and the undoubted merits of the case, brought about a hearty acquiescence on the part of those who had at first opposed the movement. His Majesty's instructions to the translators were these: INSTRUCTIONS TO THE TRANSLATORS. 1. The ordinary Bible read in the Church, commonly called the Bishops' Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the original will permit. 2. The names of the prophets and the holy writers, with the other names in the text, to be retained, as near as may be, accordingly as they are vulgarly used. 3. The old ecclesiastical words to be kept, as the word church, not to be translated congregation. 4. When any word hath divers significations, that to be kept which hath been most commonly used by the most eminent fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place and the analogies of faith. 5. The division of chapters to be altered either not at all, or as little as may be, if necessity so require. 6. No marginal notes at all to be affixed, but only for the explanation of the Hebrew or Greek words, which cannot, without some circumlocution, so briefly and fitly be expressed, in the text. 7. Such quotations of places to be marginally set down as shall serve for the fit reference of one Scripture to another. 8. Every particular man of each company to take the same chapter or chapters; and, having translated or amended them severally by himself where he thinks good, all to meet together to confirm what they have done, and agree for their part what shall stand. 9. As any one company hath dispatched any one book in this manner, they shall send it to the rest, to be considered of seriously and judiciously; for his Majesty is very careful on this point. 10. If any company, upon the review of the book so sent, shall doubt or differ upon any places, to send them word thereof, to note the places, and therewithal to send their reasons; to which if they consent not, the difference to be compounded at the general meeting, which is to be of the chief persons of each company, at the end of the work. 11. When any place of special obscurity is doubted of, letters to be directed by authority to send to any learned man in the land for his judgment of such a place. 12. Letters to be sent from every bishop to the rest of his clergy, admonishing them of this translation in hand, and to move and charge as many as, being skillful in the tongues, have taken pains in that kind, to send their particular observations to the company, either at Westminster, Cambridge, or Oxford, according as it was directed before in the king's letter to the archbishop. 13. The directors in each company to be the Deans of Westminster and Chester, for Westminster, and the king's professors in Hebrew and Greek in the two universities. 14. These translations to be used, when they agree better with the text than the Bishops' Bible: Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Matthew's [Rogers'], Whitchurch's [Cranmer's], Geneva." 15. By a later rule, "three or four of the most ancient and grave divines, in either of the universities, not employed in translating, to be assigned to be overseers of the translation, for the better observation of the fourth rule." Only forty-seven of the men appointed for this work are known to have engaged in it. These were divided into six companies, two of which met at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two at Westminster. They were presided over severally by the Dean of Westminster and by the two Hebrew Professors of the Universities. To the first company, at Westminster (ten in number), was assigned the Old Testament as far as 2 Kings; the second company (seven in number) had the Epistles. The first company at Cambridge (numbering eight) had 2 Chronicles to Ecclesiastes; the second company (numbering seven) had the Apocryphal books. To the first Oxford company (seven in number) were assigned the prophetical books, from Isaiah to Malachi; to the second (eight in number) were given the four Gospels, the Acts and the Apocalypse, or Revelation. A few of the principal men among those learned translators were these: · Dr. Launcelot Andrewes, Dean of Westminster, presided over the Westminster company. Fuller says of him: "The world wanted learning to know how learned this man was, so skilled in all (especially Oriental) languages, that some conceive he might, if then living, almost have served as an interpreter-general at the confusion of tongues." He became successively Bishop of Chichester, Ely and Winchester. Born 1555, died 1626. · Dr. Edward Lively, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, and thus at the head of the Cambridge company, was eminent for his knowledge of Oriental languages, especially of Hebrew. He died in 1605, having been Professor of Hebrew for twenty-five years. His death was a great loss to the work which he had helped to begin, but not to complete. · Dr. John Overall was made Professor of Divinity at Cambridge in 1596, and in 1604 was Dean of St. Paul's, London. He was considered by some the most scholarly divine in England. In 1614 he was made Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry. He was transferred to the See of Norwich in 1618. Born 1559, died 1619. · Dr. Adrian de Saravia is said to have been the only foreigner employed on the work. He was born in Artois, France; his Father was a Spaniard, and his mother a Belgian. In 1582 he was Professor of Divinity at Leyden; in 1587 he came to England. He became Prebend of Canterbury, and afterward Canon of Westminster. He was noted for his knowledge of Hebrew. Born 1531, died 1612. · William Bedwell, or Beadwell, was one of the greatest Arabic scholars of his day. At his death he left unfinished MSS. of an Arabic Lexicon, and also of a Persian Dictionary. · Dr. Laurence Chadderton was for thirty-eight years Master of Emanuel College, Cambridge, and well versed in Rabbinical learning. He was one of the few Puritan divines among the translators. Born 1537; died 1640, at the advanced age of one hundred and three. · Dr. John Reynolds, who first suggested the work, was a man of great attainments in Hebrew and Greek. He died before the revision was completed, but worked at it during his last sickness as long as his strength permitted. Born 1549, died 1607. · Dr. Richard Kilbye, Oxford Professor of Hebrew, was reckoned among the first Hebraists of his day. Died 1620. · Dr. Miles Smith was a student of classic authors from his youth, was well acquainted with the Rabbinical learning, and well versed in Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic. He was often called a "walking library." Born about 1568, died 1624. · John Boyse, or Bois, at six years of age could write Hebrew elegantly. He was for twelve years chief lecturer in Greek at St. John's College, Cambridge. Bishop Andrewes, of Ely, made him a prebend in his church in 1615. He was one of the most laborious of all the revisers. Born 1560, died 1643. · Sir Henry Saville was warden of Merton College, Oxford, for thirty-six years. He devoted his fortune to the encouragement of learning, and was himself a fine Greek scholar. Born 1549, died 1622. · Dr. Thomas Holland was Regius Professor of Divinity in Exeter College, Oxford, and also Master of his college. He was considered a prodigy in all branches of literature. Born 1539, died 1612. COMPLETION OF THE REVISION. Some work upon the revision was, in all probability, begun soon after the appointment of the committees. Vigorous effort was, however, delayed till about 1607, for what reason is unknown. When the translators had finished their work, a copy each was sent from Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster to London, where two from each place, six in all, gave it a final revision, and Dr. Miles Smith and Bishop Wilson superintended the work as it passed through the press. The former wrote the Preface, which is entitled, "The Translators to the Reader." The expenses of the work were not borne by the king, who pleaded poverty, but by voluntary contributions from bishops and others who had fat livings. The king, however, rewarded the translators by bestowing good livings on them as vacancies occurred, and by ecclesiastical promotion. The work was given to the public in 1611, in a folio volume printed in black letter, the full title as follows: "The \| HOLY \| BIBLE, \| Conteyning the Old Testament, \| AND THE NEW, \| Newly Translated out of the Original \| tongues: & with the former Translations \| diligently compared and revised by his \| Maiesties special Comandement. \| Appointed to be read in Churches \| Imprinted at London by Robert \| Barker, Printer to the Kings \| most excellent Maiestie \| Anno Dom. 1611." The same year, the New Testament, in 12mo, was issued, and in 1612, the entire Bible in 8vo, and in Roman type. The Genevan Bible, however, had a firm hold on the popular heart, and it required the lifetime of a generation to displace it. This "Authorized Version" never was authorized by royal proclamation, by order of Council, by act of Parliament or by vote of Convocation. Whether the words "appointed to be read in churches" were used by order of the editors, or by the will of the printer, is unknown. The original manuscripts of this work are wholly lost, no trace of them having been discovered since about 1655. The title-page speaks of this version as being "with the former translations diligently compared and revised." In their address to the readers, the translators themselves say: "Truly, we never thought, from the beginning ... that we should need to make a new translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one; but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one." Speaking of this acknowledgment, Dr. Krauth, of the present version committee, says: "Without this confession, the Authorized Version would tell its own story. It is only necessary to compare it with the older versions, to see that with much that is original, with many characteristic beauties, in some of which no other translation approaches it, it is yet in the main a revision. Even its original beauties are often the mosaic of an exquisite combination of the fragments of the older. Comparing it with the English exemplars it follows, we must say it is not the fruit of their bloom, but the ripeness of their fruit." The singular fact has been brought to light within a few years that in the year 1611 there were two distinct folio editions of this Bible published. There are some copies extant where the sheets from the two are combined; and some, where the title-page of 1611 is prefixed to the later editions. The two editions of 1611 had distinctive titles, though it is said that in some cases these were interchanged; one being a wood-cut which had been used before in the earlier Bishops' Bible, and the other an elegant copperplate. Each of them has also errors and readings peculiar to itself. One edition has, for instance, "Judas" instead of "Jesus" in Matt. xxvi., 36; the other has a part of the verse repeated in Exod. xiv., 10, making what printers call "a doublet." In Gen. x., 16, one copy reads the "Emorite," and the other the "Amorite." One has in Ruth iii., 15, "He went into the city;" the other has, "She went into the city." This led to their being designated, the great He Bible, and the great She Bible. WINNING ITS WAY. King James made great promises concerning his new version. He said at the outset that it "should be ratified by royal authority, and adopted for exclusive use in all the churches." The title-page set forth that the work was by "His Maiesties special Commandement;" also that it is "appointed to be read in churches;" and finally, that it comes from the press of "Robert Barker, printer to the King's most excellent Maiestie." All this parade seems to guarantee some civil force to urge the new version into general use, but so far as can be learned from history, the book was left to win its way upon its merits alone. Indeed it was not until 1661, that the Epistles and the Gospels in the Prayer Book, were changed, the authorized text superseding that of the Bishops' Bible. The Psalms in the Prayer Book, from the "Bible of largest volume in English," have not been superseded to this day. EXCELLENCE OF KING JAMES' VERSION. The Rev. Dr. Talbot W. Chambers, himself one of the revisers of the Old Testament Company, has very beautifully and truly said of the King James' Version as follows: "The merits of the Authorized Version, in point of fidelity to the original, are universally acknowledged. No other version, ancient or modern, surpasses it, save, perhaps, the Dutch, which was made subsequently, and profited by the labors of the English translators. But a version may be faithful without being elegant. It may be accurate without adequately representing the riches of the language in which it is made. The glory of the English Bible is that while it conveys the mind of the Spirit with great exactness, it does this in such a way that the book has become the highest existing standard of our noble tongue. Lord Macaulay calls it a stupendous work, which, if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power." Mr. Huxley, whose tendency to superstitious reverence will not be suspected, has said of this version: "It is written in the noblest and purest English, and abounds in exquisite beauties of mere literary form." The style used in this version was unique. It was not the English of that day, either spoken or written. Indeed, Mr. Marsh, in his "Lectures on the English Language" asserts, that the dialect used was not at any period "the actual current book language, nor the colloquial speech of the English people." The fact concerning the style of this version is, that from the earliest effort at English version each succeeding translator improved upon his predecessors, taking his best points continually, so that in the end the chief excellence of each appeared. King James' version, therefore, combines the beautiful and felicitous expression of all who went before it. As a final testimony to the excellence of the King James' version we may quote from Dr. F. W. Faber, who says: "Who will say that the uncommon beauty and marvelous English of the Protestant Bible is not one of the great strongholds against heresy in this country? It lives on the ear, like music that can never be forgotten, like the sound of church bells, which the convert hardly knows how he can forego. Its felicities often seem to be almost things rather than words. It is part of the national mind, and the anchor of national seriousness. Nay, it is worshiped with a positive idolatry, in extenuation of whose grotesque fanaticism its intrinsic beauty pleads availingly with the man of letters and the scholar. The memory of the dead passes into it. The potent traditions of childhood are stereotyped in its verses. The power of all the griefs and trials of a man are hid beneath its words. It is the representative of his best moments, and all that there has been about him of soft and gentle, and pure and penitent and good, speaks to him forever out of his Protestant Bible. It is a sacred thing which doubt has never dimmed and controversy never soiled." King James I It took several decades for the King James Version to overtake the popularity of the Geneva Bible. Though many Protestants including myself embrace the King James, the Geneva Bible was a Protestant Translation but the King James Version was sanctioned by the Anglican Church who persecuted the Protestants at times much like the Roman Catholics. Bearing this in mind, the Protestants who fled England to escape persecution came to America with the Geneva Bible. John Bunyan who wrote the Pilgrim’s Progress is an example of a Protestant who was persecuted by the Anglican Church along the same time that the King James Bible was translated. The King James Bible has become the most printed book in the history of the world and the only book with one billion copies in print. The actual version most of us read today is the Bakersville spelling and wording revision that was completed in 1769. John Bunyan The first Bible printed in America was in the native Alonquin Indian language by John Eliot in 1663. Robert Aitken printed the first English Bible in 1782 and his is the only Bible ever authorized the United States Congress. President Washington commended him for providing our citizens with Bibles while there was an embargo of imported English goods during the Revolution. John Eliot In closing, let me reiterate that I believe the King James to be the closest translation from the original tongues into the English language. I believe that many people argue out of ignorance on both sides of this issue, i.e. the King James versus more modern translations such as the NIV, the American Standard and others. Many King James enthusiasts believe that the KJV was the first English translation and of course it was not. It was not even the first to hit the shores of America. Many NIV supporters claim that the KJV is too hard to understand while this has been disproved by many professors who claim it is written with two-syllable words and a sentence structure that is suitable for a fifth-grade level reader. You will also find those that attack the KJV by attacking King James himself and some going as far as accusing him of homosexuality. I would advise that you research this for yourself as the devil would like nothing better than to have you turn away from this great work because of some evil lies sewn by some of his disciples. I have researched this myself finding King James’ writings to his wife to be most loving and proper and find it no strange thing to embrace a man with a “holy hug” or even greet one with a “holy-kiss”. In fact, didn’t the Apostle Paul instruct us to do this in four separate passages? Guess what, the “holy-kiss” shows up in four separate passages of the NIV as well! I even found the same in the New American Standard edition. Now to both camps, let me pose a question. What did those poor folks do throughout the dark and middle ages who did not have a translation in their own tongue? Where they all lost and condemned to hell? Furthermore, what did Abraham, Isaac and Jacob do since they had no written scripture and for sure didn’t have the New Testament containing the Gospels? Oh little man you take too much on yourself and hold your feeble mind in high esteem! Let us remember the Gospel of John when in the first verse of the first chapter he tells us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then in the 14th verse, *”And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”* Jesus Christ is the Word and was with the Father in the Beginning and was the Father in the beginning. Let us never forget that these three, (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) are one! The KJV, NIV, NAS nor any other English translation would be of much use to the German, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Russian, etc. What is profitable unto them all is the “Word” which is Jesus Christ!

Crying In the Wilderness

Web Ministry

English Bible History

Some time ago I wrote in defense of the King James Version Bible. I was a staunch supporter of its infallibility and truly remain as such. However, God has caused mine eyes to be opened to the errors we have committed while in defense of this great work. I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul when it was reported to him that some preached Christ out of strife, contention or pretence. In the 1^st chapter and 18^th verse of his epistle to the Philippians, we find “What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” I will choose to heed Paul’s meaning and apply it to translations as he did to preaching although it goes against my flesh. My goal here is not to scare you if you are not reading and studying a King James Version Bible but rather to show you why I prefer it above all other English translations and believe it to be the most fruitful for your spiritual growth.

As with any history and even with this message, one’s influence and bias spills into the work. Though most claim that they are just stating the facts, the fact is, if we look closer, their bias remains. I have openly stated that I support the King James Version, I was raised that way and have never belonged to any Church that didn’t use it as their sole source for faith and practice.

For starters, let’s look at the original languages or tongues in which the scriptures were transcribed? Hebrew was the primary language in which the Old Testament was transcribed with some small parts in what is called Biblical Arabic. The New Testament was completely written in Greek although some scholars believe that the Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew and transcribed into Greek. Another important language to keep in mind is the Latin that was utilized by the Roman Church in which the original tongues were first transcribed. The Old Testament is often referred to or broken down into three parts: the Torah (or the law), the Nevi'im (or the prophets) and the Ketuvim (or the writings). The New Testament is broken down into four groups: the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles and the Apocalypse.

I don’t think it coincidence that there are seven distinct groupings of the Holy Scriptures as God leaves nothing to chance. While there are many that have never been taught the slightest crumb about the origins of the scriptures, I believe it to be important to know what great sacrifices have been made in order for us to enjoy the privilege of having our own personal copy of these most sacred writings. I believe that many of us (including myself) take for granted the fact that our God has seen to it that we have a copy of the law that was first given to His servant Moses. He has also seen that we have a copy of the visions, revelations and prophecies that were given unto His Holy Prophets along with the writings of the Minor Prophets and such beautiful prose as is found in the Song of Solomon and the Psalms of David. How wonderful it is to have access to the original eye-witness accounts concerning the life of our Lord and Savior that we find in the four Gospels. How joyful we should be that an account of the Acts of the Apostles is available for our reading enjoyment, our spiritual growth and our comfort. What about the Epistles? These were letters from the Lord’s Apostles to the established Churches at that time. These letters were the basis used to form our Churches of today. Last but not least is the Revelation of John or what is sometimes called the Apocalypse. While this is no doubt a fearful read, there is much comfort and hope found within for the child of God.

Now that we begin to see how much God loved us to preserve this record, let’s look at the hardships many faithful souls endured in order for us to enjoy this gracious liberty?

First of all as mentioned before, the original manuscripts were in Hebrew, Biblical Arabic and Greek. The established Church with her seat in Rome had these manuscripts translated into their native tongue, i.e. “Latin”. As most common people could not read, it was left up to the local priest to read the scriptures and expound upon their meaning. There was no authorized text at this time and many translations had multiple errors and omissions. This situation was the norm throughout the dark ages as the Church of Rome held sway over the common man who did not have access to these Holy Writings and were at the mercy of Rome as to what was contained in them and what they meant.

Most accounts I’ve found validate that the majority of the Roman Church experienced corruption during this time. The selling of indulgences or in other words, the forgiveness of sin in exchange for payment to the Church by the perpetrator was common. This is one of the main points that didn’t set well with Martin Luther prompting him to reject the popish doctrines and nail what is called his 95 thesis to the door of the Church that many scholars agree officially marked the start of the Protestant Reformation. Much research that I’ve conducted tends to point that there were pockets of believers who did not go along with the Roman Church from the beginning. It would be wise to remember that God always leaves Himself a remnant.

While researching Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, you will find that the Roman Church had put to death thousands who defied its teachings prior to the arrival of the Protestant Reformation but we will not focus on that but rather stay the course on how the Scripture became available to me and you.

In order to keep this simple, our Bibles today come from one of two texts, either the majority or (received text) known as the Textus Receptus or the minority texts, i.e. the Codex Vatanicus and/or the Codex Sinaiticus. The “received text” came from manuscripts translated at Antioch in Syria where the Apostles labored and were first called Christians. The origin of the “minority texts” came from Alexandria Egypt to which Egypt throughout the Bible represents darkness, sin and bondage. It would be wise to never forget that the Holy Scriptures teach us that a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. You can find this in Genesis 46:34 “That ye shall say, Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.”

Now that we see this Scripture, let us also remember that our Savior is the “Good Shepherd.” Just from my viewpoint, I had rather use a translation that originated in Antioch versus Egypt because of the spiritual references contained in the Scripture concerning Egypt. Also remember that the majority texts were used for all English translations until the nineteenth century when Wescott and Hort began their work on what eventually became the English Revised Edition, the American Standard and the New International Versions. Of course Wescott and Hort used the minority or Egyptian texts for their foundation.

The first sign of an English translation came with John Wycliffe who began to translate portions of the Bible into the English Language during the 1380’s. Wycliffe’s translations came from the Latin Vulgate which was the only source text available to him. The Roman Church held the position that the Scriptures should not be translated nor spoken in the “vulgar” tongue, i.e English, German, etc. although their own language “Latin” was not considered vulgar. Wycliffe know as the “Morning Star of the Reformation” so infuriated the Pope by his work that 44 years after his death the Pope had his bones dug-up so they could be crushed and scattered in the river.

John Wycliffe

Wycliffe had a follower by the name of John Hus who carried on Wycliffe’s work after his demise. Hus as did Wycliffe envisioned a world where everyone could read the Bible in their own language. Rome at this point was breathing threatening to execute anyone found possessing a non-Latin Bible. John met his demise by being burned at the stake in 1415 and Wycliffe’s manuscripts were used as kindling. It has been reported that Hus said “in 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.” It was 1517 when Luther nailed his Theses of Contention to the door of the Church at Wittenburg.

John Hus

Of interest to this subject is the printing press which was invented by Johann Gutenberg during the 1450’s and the first book ever to be printed was the Bible in the Latin language. I find it a little amusing that his birh name was “Johann Gensfleich” which translated into English means (John Gooseflesh) and I don’t blame him for changing his name to “Johann Gutenberg” which translates to (John Beautiful Mountain). Gutenberg was swindled by crooked business associates and died in poverty. Now that the press was invented, this gave the Protestant Reformation a mighty tool to spread the printed word.

Johann Gutenberg

Thomas Linacre was an Oxford professor and personal physician to the English Kings Henry the 7th and 8th. Thomas decided to learn Greek and then after reading the Gospels in the original Greek declared either the original Greek is not the Gospel or we are not Christians. He reported how corrupt the Latin Vulgate had become although it remained a crime punishable by death to read the scripture in any other language than Latin (which of course the Bible was not originally written in).

Thomas Linacre

John Colet, the son of London’s Mayor and a professor at Oxford began to translate the New Testament from the Greek into English and reading it in Saint Paul’s Cathedral. It is reported that within six months, 20,000 people attended the readings with about the same number outside who could not get in. I find it sad that modern attendance at Saint Paul’s is calculated at around 200 on Sunday mornings and most of them are tourists. Colet, because of his social position managed to avoid execution.

John Colet

Hearing the reports concerning the corruptness of the Latin Vulgate as reported by Linacre and Colet, Erasmus published a fresh rendering of the New Testament in Greek-Latin during 1516. He had acquired a half-dozen old Greek manuscripts. This was the first text of the scripture to not have been translated from Jerome’s Latin-Vulgate in over a thousand years. Erasmus stressed how corrupt the Latin Vulgate had became and how important it was to get back to the original texts. Many consider his works as being the foundation for the received or majority texts.

Erasmus

William Tyndale was the first man to print the New Testament into the English Language. He was labeled the “Captain of the Army of Reformers”. Fluent in eight languages to the extent that anyone would think each of the eight to be his native tongue.

William Tyndale

Martin Luther, of whom I’ve already mentioned, nailed his Thesis to the Church door on Halloween in 1517. He was later exiled from the Church in 1521 at the Diet of Worms Council which was originally designed to martyr him. Luther took Erasmus’ Greek-Latin New Testament and translated it to German in 1522. He published the Pentateuch in 1523 and another edition of the New Testament in 1529 and then the entire Bible in German during the 1530’s.

Tyndale showed up on Luther’s doorstep in 1525 wanting to use the Erasmus works to publish an English version of the New Testament. Tyndale was on the run and had fled England amidst rumors that he was undertaking such a project. While inquisitors and bounty hunters were on his trail, he printed his first version in 1526. Tyndale’s editions were often elaborately illustrated and were burned as soon as a Bishop could confiscate them. It is said that a copy ended up in King Henry VIII’s bedroom. The more resistance offered by the Bishop and the King, the more the people was interested and desired a copy. You were subject to be burned at the stake if you were found in possession of Tyndale’s edition.

The issue the Church was most concerned with is that if people had the Bible in their own language, they would no longer get away with the selling of indulgences and the process of collecting fees enabling souls to get out of purgatory which by the way is not in the Bible and is totally a Roman Catholic manufactured doctrine. This also endangered the doctrine of salvation by works and not of grace as well as would put to naught the practice of saint worship.

Only two known copies of Tyndale’s first edition are in existence today. He was hunted for 11 years while books and Bibles reach England hidden in bales of cotton or sacks of flour. What was funny is his biggest customer was the King. They would buy up copies in order to burn them and he would use the money to print more and more copies. Tyndale was betrayed by a friend, captured and imprisoned for 500 days before being strangled and burned at the stake in 1536. It is said that his last words were “Oh Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

Martin Luther

Tyndale had two loyal followers, Myles Coverdale and John “Thomas Matthew” Rogers who carried his project forward after his demise. Coverdale translated the Old Testament in 1535 and printed the first complete English Bible using Luther’s and other Latin texts as sources.

Myles Coverdale

Rogers went on to print the second complete English Bible in 1537 and was the first English Bible translated from the original Hebrew and Greek. He used an alias “Thomas Matthew” as the author of his works which Tyndale had also used.

John Rogers

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer under direction of Henry VIII hired Coverdale to publish the “Great Bible” in 1539. It was the first English Bible authorized for public use and was distributed to the Churches and chained to the pulpit.

Thomas Cranmer

It never ceases to amaze me how our God uses evil men to our good and to accomplish His purpose. Henry VIII had requested that the Pope allow him to divorce his wife and marry his mistress. Of course the Pope refused so Henry just did it anyway. He renounced Roman Catholicism and declared himself head of the English Church which later became known as the Anglican Church. Henry willing to defy the Pope further authorized the printing of the English Bible.

King Henry VIII

Edward VI followed Henry to the throne and continued to be gracious to the growing Protestant movement but trouble lay ahead for Edward soon died. After Edward’s death, Mary took the throne with a vehement desire to return England to the Catholic faith. She had Rogers and Cranmer both burned at the stake in 1555 and burned hundreds for the simple crime of being a Protestant. This is known as the Marian Exile and Queen Mary is known as “Bloody” Mary.

Queen Mary

Many of those exiled found solace in Geneva, Switzerland where the Church was sympathetic to the refugees. Myles Coverdale, John Foxe along with theologian John Calvin and the Scottish Preacher John Knox were there with the refugees at Geneva. John Foxe is noted for his work in writing “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” which details the sufferings and martyrdom of God’s people from the Apostles to date. This work more than any other helped fuel the Protestant Reformation.

John Foxe

The most famous theological book ever written is Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and was authored by John Calvin who also had a hand in publishing the Geneva Bible in 1560. This Bible was also known as the “Breeches” Bible as they used the term “Breeches” instead of “Britches” in Genesis where God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.

John Calvin

The Geneva Bible was the first to have numbered verses in the chapters. It is considered to be the first English “Study Bible” as it had marginal notes and references. Shakespeare used this Bible for many quotes in his plays. The Geneva Bible is said to retain over 90% of Tyndale’s original translation. The Geneva version was the most popular English version for over 100 years until unseated by the King James. This was the first Bible to be carried to America but it has been out of print since 1644.

After the reign of Bloody Mary, Elizabeth I took the throne and the reformers could again return to their homeland. A revision of the Great Bible known as the Bishop’s Bible was introduced in 1568 but never gained a strong foothold among the people.

The Catholic Church realizing that they could suppress the Bible only to Latin no longer decided that if it is to be translated into English, they would have their version as well. The Rheims New Testament was translated using the corrupt Latin Vulgate as source text and was so called because it was translated at the College in the city of Rheims. The Church of Rome translated the Douay Old Testament in 1609 at the College in the city of Douay.

John Knox

When Elizabeth I passed away, James VI of Scotland became James I of England and was approached in 1604 by the Protestant clergy desiring a new Bible translation to replace the Bishop’s Bible. The Geneva Bible’s marginal notes proclaimed the Pope an Anti-Christ and they didn’t want Calvin and others opinions but simply scripture with cross-references.

Although King James chose 54 men to tackle this monumental task, only 47 actually participated. The Tyndale New Testament, Coverdale Bible, Matthews Bible, Great Bible, Geneva Bible and even the Rheims New Testament were considered during this revision or if you would, translation to end all translations. The work began in 1605 with the scholars being engaged in research and assembled commencement began in 1607. This work went to press for the first time in 1611. These as the Bishop’s Bibles were first chained to the pulpits.

The King James Version Bible was carefully translated using the Textus Receptus or the received text that Erasmus had worked so diligently on. This is the same text utilized by Tyndale, Luther and those who worked on the Geneva and the Bishop’s Bible.

When James I. came to the throne of England he found the Established Church in a sadly divided state. There were Conformists, who were satisfied with things as then found, and were willing to conform to existing usages; and there were Puritans, who longed for a better state of things, and were determined to have it. These parties appealed to the king, and the Puritans had great hopes that he would favor their side. In October, 1603, James therefore called a conference, to meet in Hampton Court Palace, in the coming January, "for hearing and for the determining things pretended to be amiss in the Church." So far as the objects chiefly sought were concerned, this Conference was a failure, but there began the movement for the version of the English Bible, now so widely accepted.

There were present on that occasion the leading divines, lawyers and laymen of the Church of England. Among them was Dr. John Reynolds, President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. On the second day of the conference, this gentleman, in the course of discussion, suggested to the king, that a new version was exceedingly desirable, because of the many errors in the version then in use. That suggestion led to the action which, after some little delay, inaugurated measures for King James' version.

The Churchly party resisted the movement for a time, because they suspected some Puritan mischief to be behind it. On the other hand, the Puritan party pressed immediate action; and the king so managed affairs as to please both sides, and finally to secure their hearty cooperation. He very decidedly favored the proposition of the Puritans, but at the same time he pronounced the Genevan version to be the worst of all in the English language, and thereby pleased the Conformist party.

Arrangements for this version were completed by the appointment of fifty-four learned men, who were also to secure the suggestions of all competent persons, that, as the king put it, "our said translation may have the help and furtherance of all our principal learned men within this our kingdom." This attitude of the king, the removal of their first suspicions, and the undoubted merits of the case, brought about a hearty acquiescence on the part of those who had at first opposed the movement. His Majesty's instructions to the translators were these:

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE TRANSLATORS.

1. The ordinary Bible read in the Church, commonly called the Bishops' Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the original will permit.

2. The names of the prophets and the holy writers, with the other names in the text, to be retained, as near as may be, accordingly as they are vulgarly used.

3. The old ecclesiastical words to be kept, as the word church, not to be translated congregation.

4. When any word hath divers significations, that to be kept which hath been most commonly used by the most eminent fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place and the analogies of faith.

5. The division of chapters to be altered either not at all, or as little as may be, if necessity so require.

6. No marginal notes at all to be affixed, but only for the explanation of the Hebrew or Greek words, which cannot, without some circumlocution, so briefly and fitly be expressed, in the text.

7. Such quotations of places to be marginally set down as shall serve for the fit reference of one Scripture to another.

8. Every particular man of each company to take the same chapter or chapters; and, having translated or amended them severally by himself where he thinks good, all to meet together to confirm what they have done, and agree for their part what shall stand.

9. As any one company hath dispatched any one book in this manner, they shall send it to the rest, to be considered of seriously and judiciously; for his Majesty is very careful on this point.

10. If any company, upon the review of the book so sent, shall doubt or differ upon any places, to send them word thereof, to note the places, and therewithal to send their reasons; to which if they consent not, the difference to be compounded at the general meeting, which is to be of the chief persons of each company, at the end of the work.

11. When any place of special obscurity is doubted of, letters to be directed by authority to send to any learned man in the land for his judgment of such a place.

12. Letters to be sent from every bishop to the rest of his clergy, admonishing them of this translation in hand, and to move and charge as many as, being skillful in the tongues, have taken pains in that kind, to send their particular observations to the company, either at Westminster, Cambridge, or Oxford, according as it was directed before in the king's letter to the archbishop.

13. The directors in each company to be the Deans of Westminster and Chester, for Westminster, and the king's professors in Hebrew and Greek in the two universities.

14. These translations to be used, when they agree better with the text than the Bishops' Bible: Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Matthew's [Rogers'], Whitchurch's [Cranmer's], Geneva."

15. By a later rule, "three or four of the most ancient and grave divines, in either of the universities, not employed in translating, to be assigned to be overseers of the translation, for the better observation of the fourth rule."

Only forty-seven of the men appointed for this work are known to have engaged in it. These were divided into six companies, two of which met at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two at Westminster. They were presided over severally by the Dean of Westminster and by the two Hebrew Professors of the Universities.

To the first company, at Westminster (ten in number), was assigned the Old Testament as far as 2 Kings; the second company (seven in number) had the Epistles. The first company at Cambridge (numbering eight) had 2 Chronicles to Ecclesiastes; the second company (numbering seven) had the Apocryphal books. To the first Oxford company (seven in number) were assigned the prophetical books, from Isaiah to Malachi; to the second (eight in number) were given the four Gospels, the Acts and the Apocalypse, or Revelation.

A few of the principal men among those learned translators were these:

· Dr. Launcelot Andrewes, Dean of Westminster, presided over the Westminster company. Fuller says of him: "The world wanted learning to know how learned this man was, so skilled in all (especially Oriental) languages, that some conceive he might, if then living, almost have served as an interpreter-general at the confusion of tongues." He became successively Bishop of Chichester, Ely and Winchester. Born 1555, died 1626.

· Dr. Edward Lively, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, and thus at the head of the Cambridge company, was eminent for his knowledge of Oriental languages, especially of Hebrew. He died in 1605, having been Professor of Hebrew for twenty-five years. His death was a great loss to the work which he had helped to begin, but not to complete.

· Dr. John Overall was made Professor of Divinity at Cambridge in 1596, and in 1604 was Dean of St. Paul's, London. He was considered by some the most scholarly divine in England. In 1614 he was made Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry. He was transferred to the See of Norwich in 1618. Born 1559, died 1619.

· Dr. Adrian de Saravia is said to have been the only foreigner employed on the work. He was born in Artois, France; his Father was a Spaniard, and his mother a Belgian. In 1582 he was Professor of Divinity at Leyden; in 1587 he came to England. He became Prebend of Canterbury, and afterward Canon of Westminster. He was noted for his knowledge of Hebrew. Born 1531, died 1612.

· William Bedwell, or Beadwell, was one of the greatest Arabic scholars of his day. At his death he left unfinished MSS. of an Arabic Lexicon, and also of a Persian Dictionary.

· Dr. Laurence Chadderton was for thirty-eight years Master of Emanuel College, Cambridge, and well versed in Rabbinical learning. He was one of the few Puritan divines among the translators. Born 1537; died 1640, at the advanced age of one hundred and three.

· Dr. John Reynolds, who first suggested the work, was a man of great attainments in Hebrew and Greek. He died before the revision was completed, but worked at it during his last sickness as long as his strength permitted. Born 1549, died 1607.

· Dr. Richard Kilbye, Oxford Professor of Hebrew, was reckoned among the first Hebraists of his day. Died 1620.

· Dr. Miles Smith was a student of classic authors from his youth, was well acquainted with the Rabbinical learning, and well versed in Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic. He was often called a "walking library." Born about 1568, died 1624.

· John Boyse, or Bois, at six years of age could write Hebrew elegantly. He was for twelve years chief lecturer in Greek at St. John's College, Cambridge. Bishop Andrewes, of Ely, made him a prebend in his church in 1615. He was one of the most laborious of all the revisers. Born 1560, died 1643.

· Sir Henry Saville was warden of Merton College, Oxford, for thirty-six years. He devoted his fortune to the encouragement of learning, and was himself a fine Greek scholar. Born 1549, died 1622.

· Dr. Thomas Holland was Regius Professor of Divinity in Exeter College, Oxford, and also Master of his college. He was considered a prodigy in all branches of literature. Born 1539, died 1612.

COMPLETION OF THE REVISION.

Some work upon the revision was, in all probability, begun soon after the appointment of the committees. Vigorous effort was, however, delayed till about 1607, for what reason is unknown.

When the translators had finished their work, a copy each was sent from Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster to London, where two from each place, six in all, gave it a final revision, and Dr. Miles Smith and Bishop Wilson superintended the work as it passed through the press. The former wrote the Preface, which is entitled, "The Translators to the Reader."

The expenses of the work were not borne by the king, who pleaded poverty, but by voluntary contributions from bishops and others who had fat livings. The king, however, rewarded the translators by bestowing good livings on them as vacancies occurred, and by ecclesiastical promotion.

The work was given to the public in 1611, in a folio volume printed in black letter, the full title as follows:

The same year, the New Testament, in 12mo, was issued, and in 1612, the entire Bible in 8vo, and in Roman type. The Genevan Bible, however, had a firm hold on the popular heart, and it required the lifetime of a generation to displace it.

This "Authorized Version" never was authorized by royal proclamation, by order of Council, by act of Parliament or by vote of Convocation. Whether the words "appointed to be read in churches" were used by order of the editors, or by the will of the printer, is unknown. The original manuscripts of this work are wholly lost, no trace of them having been discovered since about 1655.

The title-page speaks of this version as being "with the former translations diligently compared and revised." In their address to the readers, the translators themselves say: "Truly, we never thought, from the beginning ... that we should need to make a new translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one; but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one." Speaking of this acknowledgment, Dr. Krauth, of the present version committee, says: "Without this confession, the Authorized Version would tell its own story. It is only necessary to compare it with the older versions, to see that with much that is original, with many characteristic beauties, in some of which no other translation approaches it, it is yet in the main a revision. Even its original beauties are often the mosaic of an exquisite combination of the fragments of the older. Comparing it with the English exemplars it follows, we must say it is not the fruit of their bloom, but the ripeness of their fruit."

The singular fact has been brought to light within a few years that in the year 1611 there were two distinct folio editions of this Bible published. There are some copies extant where the sheets from the two are combined; and some, where the title-page of 1611 is prefixed to the later editions. The two editions of 1611 had distinctive titles, though it is said that in some cases these were interchanged; one being a wood-cut which had been used before in the earlier Bishops' Bible, and the other an elegant copperplate. Each of them has also errors and readings peculiar to itself. One edition has, for instance, "Judas" instead of "Jesus" in Matt. xxvi., 36; the other has a part of the verse repeated in Exod. xiv., 10, making what printers call "a doublet." In Gen. x., 16, one copy reads the "Emorite," and the other the "Amorite." One has in Ruth iii., 15, "He went into the city;" the other has, "She went into the city." This led to their being designated, the great He Bible, and the great She Bible.

WINNING ITS WAY.

King James made great promises concerning his new version. He said at the outset that it "should be ratified by royal authority, and adopted for exclusive use in all the churches." The title-page set forth that the work was by "His Maiesties special Commandement;" also that it is "appointed to be read in churches;" and finally, that it comes from the press of "Robert Barker, printer to the King's most excellent Maiestie." All this parade seems to guarantee some civil force to urge the new version into general use, but so far as can be learned from history, the book was left to win its way upon its merits alone. Indeed it was not until 1661, that the Epistles and the Gospels in the Prayer Book, were changed, the authorized text superseding that of the Bishops' Bible. The Psalms in the Prayer Book, from the "Bible of largest volume in English," have not been superseded to this day.

EXCELLENCE OF KING JAMES' VERSION.

The Rev. Dr. Talbot W. Chambers, himself one of the revisers of the Old Testament Company, has very beautifully and truly said of the King James' Version as follows: "The merits of the Authorized Version, in point of fidelity to the original, are universally acknowledged. No other version, ancient or modern, surpasses it, save, perhaps, the Dutch, which was made subsequently, and profited by the labors of the English translators. But a version may be faithful without being elegant. It may be accurate without adequately representing the riches of the language in which it is made. The glory of the English Bible is that while it conveys the mind of the Spirit with great exactness, it does this in such a way that the book has become the highest existing standard of our noble tongue. Lord Macaulay calls it a stupendous work, which, if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power."

Mr. Huxley, whose tendency to superstitious reverence will not be suspected, has said of this version: "It is written in the noblest and purest English, and abounds in exquisite beauties of mere literary form." The style used in this version was unique. It was not the English of that day, either spoken or written. Indeed, Mr. Marsh, in his "Lectures on the English Language" asserts, that the dialect used was not at any period "the actual current book language, nor the colloquial speech of the English people."

The fact concerning the style of this version is, that from the earliest effort at English version each succeeding translator improved upon his predecessors, taking his best points continually, so that in the end the chief excellence of each appeared. King James' version, therefore, combines the beautiful and felicitous expression of all who went before it.

As a final testimony to the excellence of the King James' version we may quote from Dr. F. W. Faber, who says: "Who will say that the uncommon beauty and marvelous English of the Protestant Bible is not one of the great strongholds against heresy in this country? It lives on the ear, like music that can never be forgotten, like the sound of church bells, which the convert hardly knows how he can forego. Its felicities often seem to be almost things rather than words. It is part of the national mind, and the anchor of national seriousness. Nay, it is worshiped with a positive idolatry, in extenuation of whose grotesque fanaticism its intrinsic beauty pleads availingly with the man of letters and the scholar. The memory of the dead passes into it. The potent traditions of childhood are stereotyped in its verses. The power of all the griefs and trials of a man are hid beneath its words. It is the representative of his best moments, and all that there has been about him of soft and gentle, and pure and penitent and good, speaks to him forever out of his Protestant Bible. It is a sacred thing which doubt has never dimmed and controversy never soiled."

King James I

It took several decades for the King James Version to overtake the popularity of the Geneva Bible. Though many Protestants including myself embrace the King James, the Geneva Bible was a Protestant Translation but the King James Version was sanctioned by the Anglican Church who persecuted the Protestants at times much like the Roman Catholics. Bearing this in mind, the Protestants who fled England to escape persecution came to America with the Geneva Bible. John Bunyan who wrote the Pilgrim’s Progress is an example of a Protestant who was persecuted by the Anglican Church along the same time that the King James Bible was translated.

The King James Bible has become the most printed book in the history of the world and the only book with one billion copies in print. The actual version most of us read today is the Bakersville spelling and wording revision that was completed in 1769.

John Bunyan

The first Bible printed in America was in the native Alonquin Indian language by John Eliot in 1663. Robert Aitken printed the first English Bible in 1782 and his is the only Bible ever authorized the United States Congress. President Washington commended him for providing our citizens with Bibles while there was an embargo of imported English goods during the Revolution.

John Eliot

In closing, let me reiterate that I believe the King James to be the closest translation from the original tongues into the English language. I believe that many people argue out of ignorance on both sides of this issue, i.e. the King James versus more modern translations such as the NIV, the American Standard and others. Many King James enthusiasts believe that the KJV was the first English translation and of course it was not. It was not even the first to hit the shores of America. Many NIV supporters claim that the KJV is too hard to understand while this has been disproved by many professors who claim it is written with two-syllable words and a sentence structure that is suitable for a fifth-grade level reader.

You will also find those that attack the KJV by attacking King James himself and some going as far as accusing him of homosexuality. I would advise that you research this for yourself as the devil would like nothing better than to have you turn away from this great work because of some evil lies sewn by some of his disciples. I have researched this myself finding King James’ writings to his wife to be most loving and proper and find it no strange thing to embrace a man with a “holy hug” or even greet one with a “holy-kiss”. In fact, didn’t the Apostle Paul instruct us to do this in four separate passages? Guess what, the “holy-kiss” shows up in four separate passages of the NIV as well! I even found the same in the New American Standard edition.

Now to both camps, let me pose a question. What did those poor folks do throughout the dark and middle ages who did not have a translation in their own tongue? Where they all lost and condemned to hell? Furthermore, what did Abraham, Isaac and Jacob do since they had no written scripture and for sure didn’t have the New Testament containing the Gospels? Oh little man you take too much on yourself and hold your feeble mind in high esteem! Let us remember the Gospel of John when in the first verse of the first chapter he tells us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then in the 14th verse, ”And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Jesus Christ is the Word and was with the Father in the Beginning and was the Father in the beginning. Let us never forget that these three, (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) are one!

The KJV, NIV, NAS nor any other English translation would be of much use to the German, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Russian, etc. What is profitable unto them all is the “Word” which is Jesus Christ!