The King James Bible – Dr John Harris
KING JAMES AND HIS BIBLE
In the summer of 1603, when King James VI of Scotland journeyed south to become James I of England, he had no way of knowing he would be most remembered for an English Bible that would forever bear his name.
Hardly had his horses and carriage left Edinburgh when he was met by a delegation of English Puritans. God had appointed him their physician, they said, “to heal the diseases of the church”. James liked their suggestion of a major conference to set the church right, but what he and the Puritans thought was wrong with it were not exactly the same thing.
Puritan concerns were morality and abuses of power by the Church hierarchy. James’ concern was what he believed to be his divine right to control the Church. He wanted no breath of Catholicism, but he was bitterly opposed to anything which smacked of the dour Prebyterianism of the stern men who had raised him from childhood. He had no intention of weakening the power of the monarch and his bishops.
Socially and physically awkward, James nevertheless had the best mind of any English monarch before or since. And he knew his Bible very well. He called the Hampton Court Conference early in 1604. When, among many suggestions, came the idea of a new translation of the English Bible, James jumped at it.
The English Bible had already passed through two dramatic and sometimes bloody centuries. But gone now were the days when English Scriptures were banned and translators were burned at the stake. People could read the Bible and that Bible was the Geneva Bible, the Bible of the Reformation.
The Puritans liked the notion of a Bible more accurately translated from the original languages but James was interested in what was in the margins. The Geneva Bible had long become a vehicle for divisive comment with anti-Papal and – what James was more concerned about – anti-monarchist remarks masquerading as doctrinal notes in the margins.
The thought of a new English Bible enthused James: accurate, less boring than the unpopular Bishop’s Bible and without the marginal invective of the Geneva Bible. Trusting no one else to get it right, he personally supervised the drawing up of precise guidelines. Impatient with the slowness of his bishops, he set up the project himself, choosing the translators and demanding regular reports.
What James put together was the world’s greatest translation project: 54 scholars in 4 teams, reporting to an overall editorial committee. A mixed group, their combined strength was immense. They cared about accuracy, about readability and about the English language. In 1611 they produced the iconic King James Version, the most influential book in the history of the world, published in uncountable millions and still read 400 years later.
Within a generation the KJV supplanted all other English Bibles. As the translators had so passionately hoped, it had become read and understood by the people; a Bible which ‘openeth the window to let in the light’. It changed the way people understood their relationship to God. It changed the way they lived their lives and the way they faced death.
Because it changed people, the KJV had the power to change society. Every literate person now had access to the Bible, leading to an entirely new spirit of inquiry through reading and reflection. This accelerated the growth of commercial printing and the ever-widening circulation of books.
Free to interpret the Bible according to the light of their own understanding, people began to question the authority of both religious and secular institutions. Stimulating reformation within the Church, it led also to the reduction of the power of the monarchy and the rise of constitutional government. Carried far beyond the shores of England, oppressed peoples found in it the hope of freedom. The KJV Bible underpinned great social reforms including the abolition of slavery. It was the KJV Bible which finally created liberty and democracy.
The KJV Bible also had a lasting influence on the English language. It brought together the best from earlier English Bibles and introduced its own memorable innovations. Hundreds of its expressions have entered the language. Through the KJV we can speak of ‘wheels within wheels’, ‘the days of our lives’, ‘the salt of the earth’ and ‘a fly in the ointment’.
Many today who never open a Bible will still know what a ‘prodigal son’ is, or a ‘good Samaritan’. Because of Noah and the flood, the worst natural disasters are always of ‘Biblical’ proportions. Anyone who reads or listens to sports commentators knows that the ‘Davids’ still defeat the ‘Goliaths’; that teams can be ‘crucified’ one week and ‘resurrected’ the next.
Without necessarily being aware, we read or hear the words of the KJV Bible every day. It has helped create much of the power and beauty of English. Through it, our language and we ourselves have all been enriched. James would have been amazed!
Article written by:
Dr John Harris
Consultant, Bible Society Australia
Historian and Curator of the “Book That Changed The World” Bible collection
