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What Is The King James Version Of The Bible

Difference Between Catholic Bible And King James Bible

What is the Difference in the KJV and NKJV?

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Catholic Bible vs. King James Bible

There has been a lot of confusion surrounding the Holy Bible that both Roman Catholic s and Protestants use, because of the varied versions that have been printed and distributed throughout the world today. It may be because of the never ending dispute between Catholics and Protestants on what should be and shouldnt be included in the Christian Bible that lights the continuity of the said argument.

The Catholic Bible is actually the generic term for the Christian Bible. By nature, it includes the so-called Old and New Testaments. It includes the 5th century Latin Vulgate, which is primarily St. Jeromes work.

Conversely, the King James Bible version is just one of the many versions of the Holy Book circulated throughout. Some of the other versions made or edited by Roman Catholics include: The Latin Vulgate itself, the Douay-Rheims Version, The Jerusalem Bible and the New American Bible, amongst many others.

Overall, no matter what Bible version you are reading, more or less the message remains the same. Even if the phrasing and wordings are somewhat altered, almost all Bible versions, including the KJV, tells of the same message about God. All in all:

1. The Catholic Bible is a more generic term for the Holy Bible.

2. The KJV is just one of the many other versions of the Holy Bible.

Catholic Bible Vs King James Bible

The difference between Catholic Bible and King James Bible is one interesting, as well as important, topic one comes across when looking at bibles. The Holy Word every Christian should know about is found in the Bible. Because of this, every individual who follows the Christian faith should have access to the Bible. This is not hard since there are a lot of bibles that are easily accessible for everybody today. However, the large number of variations of the Bible makes it quite confusing for most people as to which one to choose and read. Two of the most popular ones are the Catholic Bible and the King James Bible.

Other Modern Bible Translations Have Entered The Competition

While, for a pretty comfortable stretch of history, the King James Bible was comfortably situated as the prime translation of the Bible into English, it’s now been joined by a bevy of new translations. Naturally, these new versions have caused their fair share of controversy.

According to the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University, the 20th century has seen such an explosion of new English translations that they number into the thousands. Some of the KJV’s biggest competitors include the New Revised Standard Version , released in 1989 and intended to appeal to a vast swath of different denominations, as well as the New International Version , an evangelical take on translation that also relied on a team of religious scholars and even style consultants to get the job done. Then, there’s the English Standard Version , one of a few translations that tries to get as close to the original meaning of the text as possible with what its preface calls an “essentially literal” translation of the scriptures.

If that weren’t all enough, there’s even an update to the King James Bible itself, known, naturally enough, as the New King James Version. Per Britannica, that translation was fully published in 1983 after years of work by a 130-person team of religious leaders and scholars . The updated text modernized some spellings while maintaining that poetic structure of many of the original translation’s phrasing.

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Modern Spelling Version Of The 1599 Geneva Bible

In 2006, Tolle Lege Press released a version of the 1599 Geneva Bible with modernised spelling, as part of their 1599 Geneva Bible restoration project. The original cross references were retained as well as the study notes by the Reformation leaders. In addition, the Early Modern English glossary was included in the updated version. The advisory board of the restoration project included several ProtestantChristian leaders and scholars.

The Origins Of The King James Bible

King James Bible

A handwritten draft of the worlds most famous bible has been discovered in England

When an archive yields an unexpected discovery, it’s usually cause for celebration. But when that discovery involves the world’s most famous bible, scholarly excitement mounts to ecstastic levels. The earliest known draft of the King James Bible has been unearthed at the University of Cambridge, writes Jennifer Schuessler for The New York Times, and its being lauded as a critical find for historians.

The draft was discovered by Jeffrey Alan Miller, an American scholar conducting research in the Cambridge archives. It contains the handwriting of dozens of authors, dating from 1604 to 1608. That handwriting is a crucial find, Schuessler writes, because it reveals how they translated and assembled the text.

“There’s a strong desire to see the King James Bible as a uniform object, and a belief that it’s great because of its collaborative nature,” Miller tells Schuessler. “It was incredibly collaborative, but it was done in a much more complicated, nuanced, and at times individualistic way than we’ve ever really had good evidence to believe.”

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Why The King James Bible Of 1611 Remains The Most Popular Translation In History

Not only was it the first ‘people’s Bible,’ but its poetic cadences and vivid imagery have had an enduring influence on Western culture.

In 1604, Englands King James I authorized a new translation of the Bible aimed at settling some thorny religious differences in his kingdomand solidifying his own power.

But in seeking to prove his own supremacy, King James ended up democratizing the Bible instead. Thanks to emerging printing technology, the new translation brought the Bible out of the churchs sole control and directly into the hands of more people than ever before, including the Protestant reformers who settled Englands North American colonies in the 17th century.

Emerging at a high point in the English Renaissance, the King James Bible held its own among some of the most celebrated literary works in the English language . Its majestic cadences would inspire generations of artists, poets, musicians and political leaders, while many of its specific phrases worked their way into the fabric of the language itself.

Even now, more than four centuries after its publication, the King James Bible remains the most famous Bible translation in historyand one of the most printed books ever.

King James I of England, 1621.

Why Is The King James Bible So Popular

16 May 21

Shakespeare was still alive when this Bible was published.

Shortly after he ascended the English throne in 1603, King James I commissioned a new Holy Bible translation that, more than 400 years later, is still widely read around the world.

This Bible, known as the King James Version , helped King James leave behind a lasting cultural footprint one of his goals as a leader. “James saw himself as a great Renaissance figure who wanted to impart on the world culture, music, literature and even new ways of learning,” Bruce Gordon, a professor of ecclesiastical history at Yale Divinity School, told Live Science.

But given the KJV’s age, why is it still so popular across different Christian denominations?

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In short, the KJV’s influence has waxed over the centuries because, Gordon said, it was the version that was most widely read and distributed in countries where English was the dominant language and that its translation was “never really challenged until the 20th century.” In that time, the KJV became so embedded in the Anglo-American world that “many people in Africa and Asia were taught English from the KJV” when Christian missionaries brought it to them, Gordon said. “Many people weren’t even aware that it was one of many available translations,” he added, “they believed the King James Version was the Bible in English.”

But there’s more to the story that goes back to the translation’s inception.

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It Didn’t Exactly Start With King James

While the King James Bible now stands out as the granddaddy of English Bible translations, it was far from the first. By the time King James I took the throne of England in 1603 , quite a few translations had debuted and generated seemingly endless controversy. According to History, these included two especially prominent Bibles: the Geneva Bible, favored by Protestant rabble rousers, and the more church-sanctioned Bishops’ Bible. And even seemingly mild differences in translations could cause dramatic and life-altering consequences.

One translator, William Tyndale, became so hopelessly embroiled in Biblical controversy that it cost him both his home and, eventually, his life. According to Britannica, Tyndale was one of the growing group of scholars who thought that the Bible ought to be read by everyone in their own language, making translation key to spreading the word of Christianity.

But his attempts at translation were met with serious resistance, to the point where he had to leave town multiple times. First, he fled to Germany in 1524, where he began publishing his translation of the New Testament and then moved from town to town as he kept releasing new editions. He never finished his Old Testament translation, however, given that he was apprehended in Antwerp, Belgium and strangled, then burned at the stake in 1536. Still, with his translations already circulating in England and beyond, Tyndale’s mark had been made.

The Translators Of The Kjv 1611 Were Relatively Unfamiliar With Koine Greek

About The NKJV Bible

Koine Greek is the original language of the New Testament, but the KJV translators of the New Testament, who were accomplished scholars of Classical Greek, were relatively unfamiliar with Koine Greek. Koine Greek was not well-understood. Some people suggested it was a Judaic or Hebraic Greek. Some even believed it was a unique, Spirit-inspired dialect. It was not until the 1800s and early 1900s, when tens of thousands of papyrus documents were discovered, many written in Koine, that we began to understand the language more fully. Unlike the translators of the KJV, modern translators of the New Testament are scholars of Koine Greek. There are also some issues with the KJV translation of the Hebrew into English in the Old Testament.

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The Kjv Was Originally About Keeping Power In One Place

By the time he made it to the throne of England in 1603, King James I was in a pretty uncomfortable position. He had first been a king of Scotland and, with his foreign ways and accent, worried that he was too alien to his new English subjects. So, as NPR reports, he felt that he needed an especially grand way to establish himself as a ruler. An authoritative and exhaustive new translation of the Bible into English was just what he needed or so he believed.

James especially didn’t like the annotated Geneva Bible, which challenged the idea that kings were ordained to rule by God. Some of these comments even went so far as to refer to kings as “tyrants” and, in an era where being a king came with the very real possibility of losing one’s head, that was a serious problem. Plus, with the competition between the Geneva Bible, favored by the Puritans, and the more conformist Bishops’ Bible, things weren’t exactly peaceful in English religious circles.

So, he commissioned a new Bible translation that would hopefully do away with the quarreling and also those troublesome anti-monarchy notes. And it could well be that, between the refined tastes of the crown and the 47 people tasked with actually translating the scriptures, the group also wanted to lend some poetry to a book whose language had sometimes been ignored in favor of getting the message across.

Holy Bible Vs King James Version

The difference between the Holy Bible and the King James Version is that the Holy Bible was initially written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. Whereas the King James Version Bible is in the English language. The King James Version is the English translation of the Christian Bible of the Church of England.

The Holy Bible is a Holy Library that holds a collection of different religious scriptures written by other people. It is believed that the Bible is a collection of Gods teachings to his people. It mainly consists of Christianity and Jesus Christ. It mostly consisted of Christianity and Jesus Christ.

The King James Version, commonly known as the King James Bible, is an English translation of the Bible. It is considered to be the authorized version of the Christian Bible of the Church of England. The translation process took place under the rule of King James I.

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The Cultural Legacy Of The King James Bible

From Handels Messiah to Coolios Gangstas Paradise, the King James Bible has inspired a wide swath of cultural expression across the English-speaking world over generations. Writers from Herman Melville to Ernest Hemingway to Alice Walker have drawn on its cadences and imagery for their work, while quoted the King James Version of Isaiah in his famous I Have a Dream speech.

Beyond the countless artists and leaders inspired by the King James Bible, its influence can be seen in many of the expressions English speakers use every day. Phrases like my brothers keeper,the kiss of death,the blind leading the blind,fall from grace,eye for an eye and a drop in the bucketto name only a fewall owe their existence, or at least their popularization in English, to the KJV.

From the early 20th century onward, mainstream Protestant denominations increasingly turned toward more modern Bible translations, which have been able to provide more accurate readings of the source texts, thanks to the use of more recently discovered ancient Semitic texts unavailable in 1611. Still, the King James Version remains extremely popular. As late as 2014, a major study on The Bible in American Life found that 55 percent of Bible readers said they reached most often for the King James Version, compared with only 19 percent who chose the New International Version, first published in 1978 and updated most recently in 2011.

James Comes To The Throne

King James Bible download

As James prepared to take the throne, strong stirrings of discontent caused him grave concern. Elizabeth died on March 24, 1603, after ruling 45 years. James received word of his cousin Elizabeth’s death and his appointment to the throne, and on April 5, he began his journey from Edinburgh to London for his coronation.

James’ journey south was marked by an important interruption. A delegation of Puritans presented James a petition that outlined their grievances and the reforms they desired. The document was known as the Millenary Petition and had over 1,000 clergy signatures, representing about ten percent of England’s clergy. This petition was the catalyst for the Hampton Court Conference. From the beginning, the petition sought to allay suspicions regarding loyalty to the crown. It treated four areas: church service, church ministers, church livings and maintenance, and church discipline. It also set forth objections that perhaps sound rather frivolous to us today, but were serious matters to the Puritans. Among the things they objected to were the use of the wedding ring, the sign of the cross and the wearing of certain liturgical clothing. However, the Millenary Petition contains no mention at all of a new Bible translation.

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New King James Version

NKJV Pew Bible
Full name
King James Version
Textual basis
Webpage
Genesis 1:13In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.

The New King James Version is an English translation of the Bible. The complete NKJV Bible was published in 1982 by Thomas Nelson. The NKJV is described by Thomas Nelson as being “scrupulously faithful to the original, yet truly updated to enhance its clarity and readability.”

How Was It Translated

As few English language Bibles existed at the time, the King James Bible did not have a wealth of contemporary sources from which to draw. Not at all like today, where the number of available translations could fill a small library. Amongst those available in the 17th century were the Great Bible, the Geneva Bible, and the Bishops Bible. The latter of the three served as the primary influence for the KJV as it was produced under the Church of England a little over 50 years prior. All passages in the Bishops Bible deemed problematic at the time were changed, but names of places and people remained unaltered.

The translation also heavily drew from original Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew texts. These included the Hebrew Masoretic Text and Beza’s Greek New Testament.

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Why Did King James Want A Newly Translated Bible

Before James commissioned the KJV in 1604, most people in England were learning from two different Bibles the Church of England’s translation, commonly read during worship services , and the more popular version most Brits read at home, known as the Geneva Bible, first published in 1560. The Geneva Bible was the Bible of choice among Protestants and Protestant sects, and as a Presbyterian, James also read that version. However, he disliked the lengthy and distracting annotations in the margins, some of which even questioned the power of a king, according to Gordon.

What’s more, when James assumed the English throne in March 1603, following the death of Queen Elizabeth I, he inherited a complicated political situation, as the Puritans and the Calvinists religious followers of reformer John Calvin were openly questioning the absolute power of the Church of England’s bishops. James’ own mother Mary, Queen of Scots had been executed 16 years earlier in part because she was perceived to be a Catholic threat to Queen Elizabeth’s Protestant reign. “Mary’s death made James keenly aware of how easily he could be removed if he upset the wrong people,” Gordon said.

James died from a stroke in March 1625, so he never saw his Bible become widely accepted. But even during his lifetime, after James commissioned the translation, he didn’t oversee the process himself. “It’s almost as if he got the ball rolling, then washed his hands of the whole thing,” Gordon said.

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