Which King James Was Responsible For The Bible
Answer: James I reigned as king of England from 1603 to 1625. He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots, and he had been king of Scotland before succeeding to the English throne at the death of Queen Elizabeth I. He was prompted to produce an English Bible because of the poor and tendentious copies being circulated in England.
What Is The Most Authentic Bible
The New Revised Standard VersionThe New Revised Standard Version is the version most commonly preferred by biblical scholars. In the United States, 55% of survey respondents who read the Bible reported using the King James Version in 2014, followed by 19% for the New International Version, with other versions used by fewer than 10%.
Archaeology And The Bible
Archaeology cannot prove that the Bible is Gods written word to us. However, archaeology can substantiate the Bibles historical accuracy. Archaeologists have consistently discovered the names of government officials, kings, cities, and festivals mentioned in the Bible sometimes when historians didnt think such people or places existed. For example, the Gospel of John tells of Jesus healing a cripple next to the Pool of Bethesda. The text even describes the five porticoes leading to the pool. Scholars didnt think the pool existed, until archaeologists found it forty feet below ground, complete with the five porticoes.
The Bible has a tremendous amount of historical detail, so not everything mentioned in it has yet been found through archaeology. However, not one archaeological find has conflicted with what the Bible records.
Many of the ancient locations mentioned by Luke, in the Book of Acts in the New Testament, have been identified through archaeology.
Archaeology has also refuted many ill-founded theories about the Bible. For example, a theory still taught in some colleges today asserts that Moses could not have written the Pentateuch , because writing had not been invented in his day. Then archaeologists discovered the Black Stele. It had wedge-shaped characters on it and contained the detailed laws of Hammurabi. Was it post-Moses? No! It was pre-Mosaic not only that, but it was pre-Abraham . It preceded Moses writings by at least three centuries.
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Who Wrote The King James Bible
verifiedAdam Augustyn
Let there be light. My brothers keeper. Fight the good fight. A number of the most well-known phrases in the English language originated not in novels, plays, or poems but in a seminal translation of the Bible, the King James Version , which was published in 1611 at the behest of King James I of England. It is likely the most famous translation of the bible and was the standard English Bible for nearly three centuries. Many people think that its so named because James had a hand in writing it, but thats not the case. As king, James was also the head of the Church of England, and he had to approve of the new English translation of the Bible, which was also dedicated to him.
So if James didnt write it, who did? To begin with, theres no single author. One individualRichard Bancroft, the archbishop of Canterburywas notable for having the role of overseer of the project, something akin to a modern editor of a collection of short stories. The actual translating of the KJV was done by a committee of 47 scholars and clergymen over the course of many years. So we cannot say for certain which individual wrote a given passage.
What Is The History Of The King James Bible
The original Old Testament writings were in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, called the Vulgate, which has become the official Roman Catholic Bible. The Council of Trent in 1546 met to consider doctrines and published a list of books, which were to be considered canonical, that is, to be included in the Bible.
This list included the 39 books of the Old Testament, plus 7 Apochraphal books, plus the New Testament 27. The Jews, however, do not accept the 7 Apochrapha as canonical. The Jewish Bible is limited to the Old Testament.
The Greek translation of these books is known as the Septuagint which is the oldest known translation of any large literary work and most widely used translation of any ancient writing. It is thought to have originated toward the end of the 3rd century BC or the beginning of the 2nd century BC. The earliest reference to this work dates around 132 BC. This translation is much older than the Masoretic translations of the first five centuries AD.Related Topic: Who wrote the Bible?
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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.
Secret Hallmark Of A Literary Craftsman
Jacobean conspiracy theorists point to cryptic clues that Shakespeare was involved in writing the King James Bible. Shakespeare scholars reckon the poet and playwright to be about 46 during the later stages of the translation.
In the King James Version of Psalm 46, the 46th word from the beginning is shake and the 46th word from the end is spear. Ignoring the fact that the words also appear in older English Bibles from before to 1611, what other proof would anyone need?
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John Rogers / Thomas Matthew
John Rogers went on to print the second complete English Bible in 1537. It was, however, the first English Bible translated from the original Biblical languages of Hebrew & Greek. He printed it under the pseudonym Thomas Matthew, as a considerable part of this Bible was the translation of Tyndale, whose writings had been condemned by the English authorities. It is a composite made up of Tyndales Pentateuch and New Testament and Coverdales Bible and some of Rogers own translation of the text. It remains known most commonly as the Matthew-Tyndale Bible. It went through a nearly identical second-edition printing in 1549.
A Crisis Of Translation
The 15th century saw quite the rise in Bible translations. A big part of this had to do with two things: The Protestant Reformation, when smaller churches were breaking away from the Catholic Church , and the invention of the printing press in 1450. Before this, Britannica says, there were only slightly more than 30 different translations of the Bible floating around, but thanks to the hope the Protestant Reformation gave those wanting to break free of Catholicism, from the time Martin Luther published his “95 Theses” in 1517 until the end of the Thirty Years War with the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia , more translations started sprouting up. Martin Luther, the OG reformer, published his own translation. There was another coming in from the Dutch humanist Erasmus. In England, according to TIME, William Tyndale’s translation became the first of its kind in 1535, and it was followed shortly after by the Calvinists Bible, known as the “Geneva Bible.”
The Calvinists were once present in Scotland, according to BBC, until Queen Mary, King James’ mother, had them expelled. Being Catholic, she wasn’t a huge fan of the Reformation and had some 250 or so Protestants killed during her time. That move didn’t turn out great for her, but at least the Calvinists only got exiled to Switzerland, where they continued to print copies of their beloved book.
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Who Wrote The Bible
As previously mentioned, the Bible have 40 different authors, that lived at different times and in different places. The authors of the Bible were from all walks of life including a tax collector, shepherds, fishermen, a military general, kings, etc.
The scripture consists of a number of literary forms. It is a collection of sermons, prayer, letters, law, historical events, praise, poems, prophecies and more.
The Bible is a unique book and there is no other book like it. One of the amazing things about the Bible is the Books do not contradict each other, even though:
- Most of the authors did not know one another.
- The Bible was written over a period of fifteen hundred years .
- It was written by 40 different authors.
- The Books of the Bible were written across three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe.
- 1875 B.C. Abraham was called by God to the land of Canaan.
- 1450 B.C. The exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
This is possible because though the authors were the ones that physically wrote the Books, through His Spirit, God guided them so that they wrote in their own words what He wanted them to say.
Below are the believed authors of the Bible and the time-frame in which the Books were written. It is important to note that the authors and dates are not exact but agreed upon by many Biblical scholars.
THE OLD TESTAMENT:
THE NEW TESTAMENT:
The Tyndale New Testaments
William Tyndale, 1494-1536, was an ordained priest and highly educated scholar who had studied at both Oxford and Cambridge.
Tyndale was the first person to translate the New Testament into English directly from the original Greek. Working primarily from Erasmus newly produced Greek New Testament, and also from Martin Luthers 1517 German translation, the Latin Vulgate, the original Greek manuscripts, and whatever other sources he felt necessary. Except for Luthers 1517 German translation this was the first translation into any language directly from the Greek since Jeromes questionable Latin translation in CE 390.
Tyndale was a master linguist, reading and speaking 8 languages fluently, including Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German and of course English. He originated many of the words and phrases we know today, such as scapegoat, Passover, Jehovah, shewbread and peacemaker. Tyndale was a friend and associate of Martin Luther, who was doing the same translation during this time into the German language, and crafting a unified German language. These two men were leaders of the Reformation movement, which evolved into the various Protestant denominations we have today.
Tyndale was thanked for all of his efforts by being thrown into prison and eventually strangled and burned at the stake, before he was able to complete translating all of the books of the Old Testament. What a disappointed loss.
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Did King James Write The King James Bible
Now lets get to the story of who wrote the King James Bible and why. With the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century, peoples appetite for translation of ancient texts grew. This included ancient classical pieces as well as the Biblical texts which were written in Classical Greek and Hebrew. This desire led to the creation of the Tyndale Bible – translated in 1526 – and is credited as being the first English Bible translated from the original Greek and Hebrew texts.
In 1604 King James sought to address many of the religious differences by creating one universally accepted translation of the scriptures. This undertaking was begun by a committee of scholars led by John Rainolds. This was no small undertaking as the process literally took seven years it was a very meticulous undertaking. Rainolds never saw his work completed because he died four years before the King James Version of the Bible was published, which happened in 1611.
Lost Texts Of The Bible
There are a number of Books alluded to in the Bible that are lost to history. Several books have claimed to be this lost text, but have been appropriately discredited and are widely discounted as pseudepigrapha .
- Book of the Wars of the Lord Numbers 21:14
- Book of the Just Joshua 10:13 2 Samuel 1:18
- Book of the Acts of Solomon 1 Kings 11:41
- Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel 1 Kings 14:19
- Book of the Annals of the Kings of Juda 1 Kings 14:29
- Annals of Samuel the Seer 1 Chronicles 29:29
- History of Nathan the Prophet 2 Chronicles 9:29
- Annals of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer 2 Chronicles 12:15
- Annals of Jehu son of Hannani 2 Chronicles 20:34
- Annals of Hosai 2 Chronicles 33:18
- Jeremiahs Lament for Josiah 2 Chronicles 35:25
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Which Words Were The Right Words
The translators provided marginal notes to inform the reader what choices had been made to convey the original. They were not always sure which word was the best choice, but they did their best to arrive at a consensus among the 47 experts who worked on this translation. After all, it was Augustine who said that a variety of translations is profitable for finding out the sense of the Scriptures.
Bill Combs, a professor at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, made these points clear in a series of articles on the DBTS website. He made note: Prior to the KJV, there had been many English translations of Bible: Wycliffe , Tyndale , Coverdale , Matthews Bible , the Great Bible , the Geneva Bible , the Bishops Bible , and the Douai-Rheims . The many translations speak not of the insufficiency of the previous versions, but the recognition that there are many audiences with different preferences whose educational experiences and dialects vary.
Combs quoted a pithy although lengthy passage from the KJV Preface. For clarity, I will paraphrase this portion of the Preface. Readers are encouraged to review The Preface themselves but will find the vocabulary and style difficult hence the paraphrase here, and an object lesson in why modern versions are a necessary endeavor to equip the Saints for good works.
How The Bible Was Written
It took about 1,500 years for the whole Bible to be written from Genesis, written at the time of Moses, to Revelation, written by the apostle John about 65 years after Jesus death. The Bible was written by about 40 different authors, that lived at different times and in different places. Yet not one of these writers contradicts another. God guided them so that they wrote in their own words what He wanted them to say. This means that the Bible is a completely dependable and trustworthy book. We can believe everything it says because it comes from God.
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The Selection Of The Books Of The Bible / The Canon
The word Canon comes from the Greek word kanon, which means a rod used to measure. When referring to the Bible, Canon refers to the list of Books considered authoritative as Scripture.
For the Jews living during the Old Testament times there was no need for a Canon they had the prophets alive and in their presence. Likewise, for the early Church, they had Jesus Christ and the apostles. Once the prophets and apostles were dead, however, it became necessary to gather their writings and preserve them.
This process of preservation and establishment of Canon served several purposes. It sought to:
- Define what was inspired, and what was not prevent a corruption of the inspired words of God ensure the inspired words of God not be lost
- Reclude the possibility of additions to inspired works.
For the Old Testament, Protestant Christians from the Reformation onward, accept the shorter canon from the Hebrew Palestinian canon. Jews now use the same canon as the Protestant Old Testament, but the order and division of some of the Books is different, giving them a total of 24 Books.
Some Catholic Christians accept the longer Old Testament canon from the Greek Septuagint translation of the Alexandrian canon. This includes the 39 Books and the Apocrypha. Nearly all Christians reject the apocrypha as scripture. The apocrypha are explained in more detail later in this text.
THE OLD TESTAMENT:
THE NEW TESTAMENT:
The New Testament Canon was gradually added to that of the Old Testament.
William Tyndale And Martin Luther
William Tyndale wanted to use the same 1516 Erasmus text as a source to translate and print the New Testament in English for the first time in history. Tyndale showed up on Luthers doorstep in Germany in 1525, and by years end had translated the New Testament into English. Tyndale had been forced to flee England, because of the wide-spread rumor that his English New Testament project was underway, causing inquisitors and bounty hunters to be constantly on Tyndales trail to arrest him and prevent his project. God foiled their plans, and in 1525-1526 the Tyndale New Testament became the first printed edition of the scripture in the English language. Subsequent printings of the Tyndale New Testament in the 1530s were often elaborately illustrated.
They were burned as soon as the Bishop could confiscate them, but copies trickled through and actually ended up in the bedroom of King Henry VIII. The more the King and Bishop resisted its distribution, the more fascinated the public at large became. The church declared it contained thousands of errors as they torched hundreds of New Testaments confiscated by the clergy, while in fact, they burned them because they could find no errors at all. One risked death by burning if caught in mere possession of Tyndales forbidden books.
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