King James Bible

A comment on 400 years of the KJV – with acknowledgement to many others including Bishop Paul of Nottingham & Southwell Diocese.
'Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh' wrote The Preacher in the ever engaging book of Ecclesiastes. It might well be that if he, or indeed the translators of the King James Version, saw how many books and articles had been produced in the last 15 months on their work he would reiterate those words for there have been many..
There is much on how the translation came about, and the purpose in producing it: the role of King James as he sought an ecclesiastical middle way between the puritans and Catholics, and as he sought to bring about a closer political union as Bragg puts it.

'Out of Wolsey's most Catholic Hampton Court on the Thames came one Bible, one authorised version controlled by one King. One King by Divine Right. One Bible that would eliminate those radical suggestions which appeared in the margins of the Geneva Bible. One Bible that would show the world what the King and God and the heavenly and earthly kingdom were really made of. A book to reorder the world.'
Wycliffe and his followers had started the process of producing a bible in English, Tyndale made the major contribution in 1526, and indeed around 80% of the King James version comes from his version. Coverdale produced a version in 1535 which we still use for our psalms in the 1662 book of common prayer. But in 1560 the Geneva bible was produced and at the end of Elizabeth I's reign it was the Geneva Bible that was the most widely available and read. The Geneva Bible had many notes which seriously questioned the idea of the Divine Right of Kings and in ecclesiastical government they questioned the necessity or rightfulness of episcopacy. So they potentially threatened the establishment of the Crown and Bishops

James himself had knowledge and skill in biblical languages but he also wanted a bible which would eliminate the radical suggestions in the Geneva Bible and replace it and the other versions around with one standard English translation. So the translators sought to be faithful to the original texts adding words only where needed for clarity, and by a change of type face making it clear where words had been added, but they were also given a political and ecclesiastical task. They did not use marginal notes so making significant the choice of words used in the translation in relation to passages about kings and civil government. The choice of 'bishops' as the word to translate 'episcope' especially in Paul's letters helps maintain the existence of an Episcopal church. The language of the dedicatory epistle and the longer less well known Translators Preface both maintain James I very strong conviction that he was King by Divine Right. Listen to a few words from the Translator's Preface
This, and more to this purpose, His Majesty that now reigneth (and long, and long may he reign, and his offspring forever, .. .... . It doth certainly belong unto Kings, yea, it doth specially belong unto them, to have care of Religion, .... yea, to know it aright, yea, to profess it zealously, yea to promote it to the uttermost of their power. This is their glory before all nations which mean well, and this will bring unto them a far most excellent weight of glory in the day of the Lord Jesus

It was hoped that this new translation would establish clearly the Church of England as both independent from Rome and also not Presbyterian like Geneva. Listen to words from the Dedicatory Epistle again:‐ And now at last, by the mercy of God, and the continuance of our labours, it being brought unto such a conclusion, as that we have great hopes that the Church of England shall reap good fruit thereby; ..... on the one side, we shall be traduced by Popish Persons at home or abroad, who ... will malign us, because we are poor instruments to make God's holy Truth to be yet more and more known unto the people, whom they desire still to keep in ignorance and darkness; o, on the other side, we shall be maligned by self‐conceited Brethren, who run their own ways, and give liking unto nothing, but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil; we may rest secure, supported within by truth and innocency of a good conscience, having walked the ways of simplicity and integrity, as before the Lord; and sustained without by the powerful protection of Your Majesty's grace and favour, which will ever give countenance to honest and christian endeavours against bitter censures and uncharitable imputations.

But their primary purpose came from their conviction of the truth of the Scriptures, and the saving power of the gospel contained within them. Here is Bishop Miles Smith from the Translators Preface again in the section entitled 'The Praise of the Holy Scriptures':‐ But now what piety without truth? what truth (what saving truth) without the word of God? What word of God (whereof we may be sure) without the Scripture? The Scriptures we are commanded to search. John 5:39. Isa 8:20. They are commended that searched and studied them. Acts 8:28‐29, 17:11. They are reproved that were unskilful in them, or slow to believe them. Matt 22:29. Luke 24:25. They can make us wise unto salvation. 2 Tim 3:15. If we be ignorant, they will instruct us; if out of the way, they will bring us home; if out of order, they will reform us; if in heaviness, comfort us; if dull, quicken us; if cold, inflame us. ........The Scriptures then being acknowledged to be so full and so perfect, how can we excuse ourselves of negligence, if we do not study them, of curiosity, if we be not content with them?

The prime conviction and purpose of all the translators was not an ecclesiastical, social or political one it was one of the truth and saving power of the Scriptures as the Word of God written. They wanted to produce a translation that was accurate to the original Hebrew & Greek tongues communicating the good news of salvation

it was not until the 1630s that the KJV became the more universally accepted version, but it was adopted for 1662 Prayer Book and it was the KJV which John Carver, William Brewster of Scrooby and others took with them on the Mayflower in 1620. From the outset the Pilgrim Fathers life in America was rooted in the Scriptures and the KJV in particular. So it was the KJV on which our Queen Elizabeth swore her oath and on which in America Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and many other presidents down to Barack Obama were sworn in. So would the original translators say to us today?

I think they might say to us that their translation was designed to be read aloud and in an age when for many reading has become less significant and the power of the visual media, music and the internet have come to hold more sway might not those of us who still long for the message of the Bible to be heard need to recapture something of the power of aural communication. In an age when images are vital might we not need to recapture the power of the poetic, of the spoken word. If we reflect on the power of rapping to communicate in some parts of our culture might we not need to recover poetic, musical phrasing in how we communicate the word of the Lord? The KJV itself might help us here; as the writer Murray Watts has reflected in the Church Times, 'And what could be more evocative of our personal plight, of the condition of 'modern' Britain, than the 'spirit of heaviness'? We talk of depression and despair, we know hopelessness, but we feel in our burdened hearts that we are crushed under the huge weight of 'a spirit of heaviness'. And so the power of the deliverer to save is magnified by the poetic power of the language. Here is 'soul food' indeed: a version that should be rediscovered, like the lost coin, with tears of joy. We can turn to the modern versions for their many virtues of accuracy and clarity, but we can take refuge from their banalities in the greatest version of them all.'
The king James version may not be your preferred version but I finish by commending to you more words from the translators:
The Scriptures then being acknowledged to be so full and so perfect, how can we excuse ourselves of negligence, if we do not study them, of curiosity, if we be not content with them?
And what marvel? The original thereof being from heaven, not from earth; the author being God, not man; the inditer, the holy spirit, not the wit of the Apostles or Prophets; the Penmen such as were sanctified from the womb, and endued with a principal portion of God's spirit; the matter, verity, piety, purity, uprightness; the form, God's word, God's testimony, God's oracles, the word of truth, the word of salvation, etc.; the effects, light of understanding, stableness of persuasion, repentance from dead works, newness of life, holiness, peace, joy in the holy Ghost; lastly, the end and reward of the study thereof, fellowship with the Saints, participation of the heavenly nature, fruition of an inheritance immortal, undefiled, and that never shall fade away: Happy is the man that delighted in the Scripture, and thrice happy that meditateth in it day and night