Celebrating the KJV 400 Years

KING JAMES VERSION of 1611
R. D. Ice

2011 is the 400th anniversary of the KJV auhorized by King James of England. The Queen of England made an announcement of this. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12079065

"Over 400 years ago King James VI of Scotland inherited the throne of England at a time when the Christian church was deeply divided. Here at Hampton Court in 1604, he convened a conference of churchmen of all shades of opinion to discuss the future of Christianity in this country. The king agreed to commission a new translation of the bible that was acceptable to all parties. This was to become the King James, or Authorized, Bible, which next year will be exactly four centuries old. Acknowledged as a masterpiece of English prose and the most vivid translation of the scriptures, the glorious language of this bible has survived the turbulence of history and given many of us the most widely recognised and beautiful descriptions of the birth of Jesus Christ which we celebrate today. The King James Bible was a major co-operative endeavour that required the efforts of dozens of the day's leading scholars. The whole enterprise was guided by an interest in reaching agreement for the wider benefit of the Christian church, and to bring harmony to the kingdoms of England and Scotland."

We believe that the Translators of the Version of 1611 were faithful Christians. A. Campbell also believed they were Christians. He accepted the KJV as the inspired word of God. His argument with them was based on the changes in the English language since their work. [Some use the NKJV for study because of these changes.]

AN APOLOGY FOR A NEW TRANSLATION A. Campbell

"A living language is continually changing. Like the fashions and customs in apparel, words and phrases, at one time current and fashionable, in a century or two, come to have a signification very different from that which was once attached to them: nay, some are known to convey ideas not only different from, but contrary to, their first signification. And were it not for books and parchments, which preserve from one generation to another, the language of the dead; and transmit from father to son the words and sentences of past times; it is not improbable that, in one generation, a living language would undergo as many mutations, and admit of as many innovations as it now does in two or three hundred years."

"We have, in writing, all the Hebrew and Greek that is necessary to perpetuate to the end of time, all the ideas which the Spirit of God has communicated to the world; and these languages, being dead, have long since ceased to change. The meaning of the words used by the sacred penman, is fixed and immutable; which it could not have been, had these languages continued to have been spoken."

"But this constant mutation in a living language will probably render new translations, or corrections of old translations, necessary every two or three hundred years. For although the English tongue may have changed less during the last two hundred years than it ever did in the same lapse of time; yet the changes which have taken place since the reign of James I do now render a new translation necessary. For if the King's translators had given a translation every way faithful and correct, in the language then spoken in Britain, the changes in the English language which have since been introduced, would render that translation in many instances incorrect." The Sacred Writings, 1826, A. Campbell


The KJV translators (or revisers) lived in a different time and a different culture. Their personal world-view was "gloomy" due to the world in which they lived. They wrote and spoke in the English language of Tyndale, 16th Century. Tyndale's translation of 1526 inspired the great translations to follow, including the Great Bible of 1539, the Geneva Bible of 1560, the Bishop's Bible of 1568 (and others).

King James wanted a "standard" Translation to be used by all the English churches. He instructed: "The ordinary Bible read in the Church, commonly called the Bishop's Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the Truth of the original will permit."

The original KJV 1611 was published in Black Letters (Old English), and included the Books of the Apocrypha. It also contained an introduction by the Translators, and a justification for their work. They said: "We are so far off from condemning any of their labors that travailed before us in this kind, either in this land or beyond sea, either in King Henry's time, or King Edward's...or Queen Elizabeth's of ever renowned memory, that we acknowledge them to have been raised up of God, for the building and furnishing of his Church, and that they deserve to be had of us and of posterity in everlasting remembrance." You can read about this online at:
http://m2.aol.com/AVBibleTAB/av/KJVpre.htm
http://m2.aol.com/avbibletab/av/dedicat.htm

The Version commissioned by King James of England first came from the printing press in 1611 AD. It contained all the Apocrypha as well as the Old and New Testaments. It reflects the language spoken in Britain in the previous century, since it is a revision of the work of Tyndale circa 1525 AD. Because we use the same words, but with new and very different meanings, it is difficult to realize that as early as 1770, Benjamin Franklin said that people had ceased to read the Bible [the KJV] because they could not understand it. While the words were the same, the meanings were so different in places.

Dan Hedges wrote in Ministries Today, J/A 1999. “The paraphrases that are popular and not-so-popular also have their place. Who can question the value of how The Living Bible translation got an entire generation of frustrated King James nonreaders into daily devotional reading? The new paraphrases help us meet this need.” Even if you violently disagree with what he said, this is a present challenge. Just now The Book NLT is being aggressively promoted by Walmart and others, and will continue to face us. The standard is the original Bible in the Ancient languages. What does it say???

The original KJV was printed in the Old English typeface. The alphabet was different. "i" and "j" were different forms of the same letter, as were "u" and "v". The Name of God was given as "Iehouah" [Iehoua]. Current editions of the KJV have been revised and the spelling changed. [Some editions have English spelling and some American spelling.]

Here is my example of the language difference. "I decided to go on a journey to the Camp Ground. I packed my utensils and my tabernacle into my car, taking along my dog. Arriving there, I set the dog free, and set about unpacking my gear. First, I unpacked my tabernacle and set it up. I was planning to stay the night and would need a spot for slumber. Then I gathered sticks and soon had a fire going. I filled the pot with water and set it over the fire. I shaved herbs into the pot: carrots, potatoes, some corns of barley, cumin, garlic, and finally a lump of kine flesh. I seethed it and in time had a mess of pottage. At this point I shrilled for the dog, and he came bounding from the distance. After doing the necessary things, we enjoyed our feast."

Campbell championed a new version, "The Living Oracles," by James McKnight, Phillip Doddridge, and George Campbell, which had been revised by himself. He published this new version in 1826. It reflected the English spoken by the American people of Scotch-Irish ancestry in Campbell's day. This is the Version which Campbell used to spark the "restoration" movement in our USA. It was used almost exclusively until the time of the Civil War. http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/oracles4th/oracles4th.html

Here is the "Lord's Prayer" [Luke 11:2-4] as it appears in some different "versions."

KJV of 1611. This is the original spelling. "Our Father which art in heauen, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdome come, Thy will be done as in heauen, so in earth. Giue vs day by day our dayly bread. And forgiue vs our sinnes: for we also forgiue euery one that is indebted to vs. And lead us not into temptation, but deliuer vs from euill."

Campbell's Living Oracles. "Father, thy name be hallowed; thy Reign come; give us each day our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, for even we forgive all who offend us; and lead us not into temptation." [Note: the corrected Greek Text omits “deliver us from the evil one," and that Campbell followed this corrected Greek text."]

American Standard Version 1901. "Father, Hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation." [Note the ASV follows the NU Greek text.]

New KJV 1983. "Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one."

CEV Basic English. "Father, help us to honor your name. Come and set up your kingdom. Give us each day the food we need. Forgive our sins, as we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us. And keep us from being tempted."

J. W. McGarvey said, at the Missouri Christian Lectures, 1883: "The Canterbury revision of the New Testament should now totally supplant the King James Version, not only because it is a great improvement as a version, but because it is the only representative in English of the corrected Greek text. A man is not safe in venturing upon the exegesis of a single passage by the aid of the old version until he shall have compared it with the new; and rather than be continually making these comparisons, it is better to at once adopt the new into exclusive use."

We know the Canterbury revision as the American Standard Version of 1901. Johnson's Notes (The People's New Testament) has the [English] Canterbury revision in the margin. The Gospel Advocate Commentaries use the American Standard Version as their basic text.

"Black English," has recently been in the news, and some would make it become a separate language. The ABS recently published Luke in Gullah (Sea Island Creole). Here is the Lord's Prayer in that language [a variant of English]. "We Papa een heaben, leh ebrybody hona you nyame cause you da holy. We pray dat soon you gwine rule oba all ob we. Wasoneba ting you da want, leh um be een dis wol, same like e be dey en heaben. Gee we de food wa we need dis day yah an ebry day. Fagibe we fa de bad ting we da do. Cause we da fagibe dem people wa do bad ta we. Leh we don't habe haad test wen Satan try we. Keep we from ebil."

Another variant of "Black English" comes from New Guinea, and is called "Neo-Melanisian." Here is the Lord's Prayer. "Papa, nem bilong yu em i mas i stap holi. Kingdom bilong yu em i mas i kam. Kaikai bilong mipela inap long de, em yu givim mipela long olgeta de. Lusim sin bilong mipela. Mipela tu i lusim sin bilong olgeta man i bin mekim rong long mipela. Yu no bringim mipela long samting bilong traim mipela."

Campbell cited the instructions of King James to his translators as the reason certain words are not translated, but transliterated. He wrote of these instructions in his "Christian Baptist” paper. These may also be found in McClintock & Strong's Cyclopedia.

For the better ordering of the proceedings of the translators, his Majesty recommended the following rules to them, to be very carefully observed: -

1. The ordinary Bible, read in the church, commonly called the Bishop's 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, according as they are vulgarly [commonly] used.

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

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

[Campbell includes the instructions through #14.]

Campbell comments: "It is evident from third of the King's instructions to the translators, that he forbade them to translate the old ecclesiastical words; and in rule fourth he commands, that when any word hath divers significations, they should retain that in their translation which has been most commonly used by the most eminent fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place and the analogy of faith."

"Let it be particularly noticed, that among those words called consecrated ecclesiastical words, and which were forbidden by the king to be translated into English, are the words baptism and baptize.... and gives the word church not to be translated congregation with an & as a specimen of these words....When Tyndal[e] issued his translation of the Bible, because he had in it disregarded the words which the clergy esteemed sacred, they condemned it. He had, for instance, changed charity into love; church into congregation; priest into senior; grace into favor; confession into knowledge; penance into repentance; and a contrite heart into a troubled heart....For instance, the word church, he said, was, by the popish clergy, appropriated to themselves; [whereas, of right it was common to all the whole congregation of them that believe in Christ." [from Campbell's The Christian Baptist, Vol. 1, 1824]

There was a Church of the Jews in the wilderness [Acts 7:38] which was the congregation of the saved containing every Jewish person. The Church of the Lord is likewise one spiritual-congregation containing every saved person who is in Jesus Christ - One Body, One Kingdom, One Temple built of Living Stones. And so Campbell understood [cf. The Lunenburg Letter].


The original KJV contained The Prayer of Manasseh.

"Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sin, and histrespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers." 2 Chron 33:18-19

The Prayer of Manasseh
or
The Prayer of Manasses King of Judah

Chapter 1
1 O Lord, Almighty God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed;[2] who hast made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof;[3] who hast bound the sea by the word of thy commandment; who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by thy terrible and glorious name;[4] whom all men fear, and tremble before thy power;[5] for the majesty of thy glory cannot be borne, and thine angry threatening toward sinners is importable:[6] but thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable;[7] for thou art the most high Lord, of great compassion, longsuffering, very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men. Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee: and of thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved.[8] Thou therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just, hast not appointed repentance to the just, as to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, which have not sinned against thee; but thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner:[9] for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied: my transgressions are multiplied, and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude of mine iniquities.[10] I am bowed down with many iron bands, that I cannot life up mine head, neither have any release: for I have provoked thy wrath, and done evil before thee: I did not thy will, neither kept I thy commandments: I have set up abominations, and have multiplied offences.[11] Now therefore I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching thee of grace.[12] I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities:[13] wherefore, I humbly beseech thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not with mine iniquites. Be not angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me to the lower parts of the earth. For thou art the God, even the God of them that repent;[14] and in me thou wilt shew all thy goodness: for thou wilt save me, that am unworthy, according to thy great mercy.[15] Therefore I will praise thee for ever all the days of my life: for all the powers of the heavens do praise thee, and thine is the glory for ever and ever. Amen. Man 6:1-15 (KJVApocrypha)