King James Version
In 1604 work began on a new translation. King James supported
the work which gained some fifty scholars. They were given a list
of rules and procedures. They were to alter the Bishops' Bible
as little as possible (... "to make a good one better, or
out of many good ones, one principal good one" ...) as permitted
by the truth of the original. They were to consult other translations
where they agreed better with the text including Tyndale, Matthew,
Coverdale, the Great Bible and the Geneva Bible. Old ecclesiastical
words were to be kept (church versus congregation). The preface
explains the translator's intent to only use marginal notes to
indicate uncertainties in original wording. They intended to be
reserved about uncertainties rather than dogmatic when the uncertainties
did not relate to doctrinal issues of salvation. One goal was
to use a variety of English synonyms to translate the same word
in the original Greek or Hebrew as much as possible. Unfortunately,
this variety has led to ambiguity at times and precludes the use
of exactly the same word for clarity and emphasis when appropriate.
The work was divided among the men in six panels. As one panel
completed a section, they distributed it to the other panels for
review. Chief members of each panel made final decisions. The
strong team of revisers included professors of Hebrew and Greek
from Oxford and Cambridge. The actual work began in 1607 and was
printed in 1611. It was made under royal authority and bore the
title page statement of "being appointed to be read in churches,"
but was not officially authorized by ecclesiastical or legislative
sanction. Its popularity eventually obtained its "authorized"
status. It was dedicated to King James and included a preface
explaining its purpose, procedures and principles.
Subsequent printings (1629, 1638, 1762 and 1769-today's standard,
differing in an estimated 75,000 details) corrected numerous typographical
errors including eliminating multiple lines, inserting omitted
words and correcting wrong wording. The 1611 version appealed
to both scholars and the common people. In 1847 the American Bible
Society intended to prepare a standard text from among the 24,000
variations, but they decided that none of the variations hindered
the integrity of the text or affected any doctrine or teaching
of the Bible. In 1861 various changes (mostly spelling) were introduced.
In 1932 further spelling changes (along with pronunciation marks
over names) were made to conform to American usage. No further
changes were made until 1962 when changes such as a paragraph
format, section headings and a new system of references were instituted.
The KJV helped develop the lineage of the Tyndale tradition.
Tyndale contributed much of the idiom and vocabulary, Coverdale
contributed the melody and harmony and Geneva contributed the
scholarship and accuracy. The six panels produced varying qualities.
It was the best English Bible then available and had a conservative
evangelical theological bias. Its literary and punctuation style
lends it to public reading.
Next page --> After 1611
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