A CLASSIC OF ENGLISH LITERATURE--THE KING JAMES BIBLE

By far the most popular English Bible of all time, the King James translation was authorized by James I, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, who appointed fifty-four scholars to make a new version of the Bishop's Bible for official use in the English (Anglican) church.  After seven years' labor, during which the oldest manuscripts available were diligently consulted, the king's scholars produced in 1611 the Authorized, or King James, Version.

One of the masterpieces of English literature, it was created at a time when the English language was at its richest and most vivid.  In the beauty of its rhythmic prose and colorful imagery, the King James Version remains unsurpassed in literary excellence.  Later translations may be more accurate and have the advantage of being based on older and more authoritative Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, but none has phrased the Scriptures in so memorable or quotable a fashion.

Indeed, the most quoted book at the 1787 Constitutional Convention was the King James Bible.  All of America's Founding Fathers were avid Bible readers.  Yes, the King James Bible heavily informed the content, cadence  and rhythms of Thomas Jefferson's state papers, and, 60 years after him, Abraham Lincoln's political speeches and writings.

Translated by scholars who grew up on the then-contemporary poetry of Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare, the King James Bible is a literary classic.

That said, the King James presents real problems of comprehensiblity to the contemporary American student.  Students who have difficulty understanding Hamlet, cannot expect to follow Paul's sometimes complex arguments when they are couched in terms that have been largely obsolete for centuries. Realizing that language changes over the years and that words lose their meanings, and take on new connotations, Bible scholars have repeatedly updated and re-edited the King James text.

The first Revised Version of the King James, was issued in 1901.  Using the (then) latest studies in archaeology and linguistics, the Revised Standard Version (RSV) appeared between 1946 and 1962.  Because modern scholarship continues to advance in understanding of biblical language, an updated edition, the New Revised Standard, was published in 1991.

Personal note:  because I was having trouble reading and was falling behind in school, my mother recommended I read passages form the King James Bible.  She said, "If you can read from the King James Bible, you can read anything." During the summer (between my fourth and fifth grade school years), on every Saturday night, I would read aloud to her.  Did it help?  Yes. The first paper I wrote for my fifth grade class, I received something foreign to me-- an "A".  Stranger still, my teacher asked me to read my paper out loud in class.

From then on I always did well in school, and in college was elected editor-in-chief of the college newspaper. While I have several Bible translations on my shelf, I continue to read from the King James Bible to this day.

  

Note: In writing this piece, I am indebted to "The New Testament: A Student's Introduction" by  Stephen L. Harris.

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