(This is a collaborative post, written by Jordan and Melinda together.)
The King James Bible is 400 years old this year. To celebrate that, our Bible study watched a movie about the making of the KJV. It was a good movie. It was called KJV: The Making of the King James Bible
Here are some interesting facts about the King James Bible from the movie and other places.
* It is considered one of the greatest works of prose in the English language.
* The first one was entirely handwritten.
* It was based on a lot of different Bibles, such as William Tyndale's English translation and various Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic texts.
* One of the first printed editions missed out the word "not" in the seventh commandment, making it "Thou shalt commit adultery." Only 11 copies of that edition remain and they are priceless collector's items.
* It was authorized by King James I, who wanted a newer, more accurate translation to replace all the other English versions available at the time. Puritans however stuck with the Geneva translation. Actually, the KJV was mostly despised by everyone early on.
* Common phrases such as "salt of the earth," "a man after his own heart," "broken heart," "a drop in the bucket" and "a labor of love" were coined in the King James Bible.
* It's still a best seller after 400 years
I love the language of the KJV for devotional reading although I prefer a more modern translation for study. The KJV with it's "thees" and "thous" makes Bible reading feel special to me. --Melinda
I liked learning about the KJV. -- Jordan
Signed,
Jordan and Melinda
Funny that you comment that King James wanted a "more accurate translation" yet coined at least five phrases that endure in our modern lexicon. It is also interesting the oversight that the KJV became the political launching point for such civil laws in Britain as barring Jews from owning property, businesses and certain occupations including anything which required higher education, government and teaching. Although it is a great work of prose and poetry, it is also one of the earliest examples of mass produced piece of antisemtism.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I never learned that (this is Melinda, not Jordan, speaking.)
ReplyDeleteI know that there was a serious amount of antisemitism in Europe in the 1600s and many other times and also that the Bible has been used to justify all kinds of things that it doesn't actually promote, including anti-semitism. But I hadn't heard that the KJV was specifically translated to justify anti-semitism. Thus, I didn't mention here or teach it to Jordan. He and I aren't experts on this, of course.