Know the history

of the

King James Bible

By JanEgil GulbrandsenDec. 2010

Updated March 2015

King James

King of Scotland

and England

1566 – 1625 AD

• Born in Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland• Became “king” at 14 months• Was not interested in woman• Critics winked at his close relationship with

George Villiers, that he called “wife”.• (There were a secret passage from the kings

bedroom to Mr. Villiers room)• Eventually he “needed” to get married• A marriage was agreed with a Danish princess.

Her name was Ann.

• Ann with her entourage was suppose to sail from Copenhagen, Denmark to Scotland, but the wind was not favourable and she ended up in Norway.

• James took 300 of his men and sailed to Oslo.

• They got married in 1589 in Oslo by the local bishop.

• James and Ann had 3 children. A successor to the throne was secured.

The first hand-written English language Bible manuscripts were produced in the 1380's AD by John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, scholar, and theologian. He was well-known throughout Europe for his opposition to the teaching of the organized Church, which he believed to be contrary to the Bible. With the help of his followers, called the Lollards, and his assistant Purvey, and many other faithful scribes, Wycliffe produced dozens of English language manuscript copies of the scriptures. They were translated out of the Latin Vulgate, which was the only source text available to Wycliffe. The Pope was so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered the bones to be dug-up, crushed, and scattered in the river!

The chain of events that led to the creation of Tyndale’s New Testament began in 1522, the year Tyndale acquired a copy of Martin Luther’s German New Testament. Inspired by Luther’s work, Tyndale began a translation into English using a Greek text "compiled by Erasmus” from several manuscripts older and more authoritative than the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome (A.D. 340-420), the only translation authorized by the Roman Catholic Church. Tyndale made his purpose known to the Bishop of London at the time, but was refused permission to produce this "heretical" text. But a first edition was put into print in 1525 in Cologne.

• King James wrote 3 books. One of his books was a “theological argument for monarchy”.

• The Tyndale Bible (1526) was the first bible to be uses in the protestant church in England.

• King Henry commissioned “The Great Bible” in 1539 and the “Bishops Bible” came in 1568.

• But the Anglican church did not like any of these bibles.

• They found them to “low church” - to simplistic –to evangelical.

• On the one hand the protestants had brokenaway from the catholic church and their bible -the Vulgate – late 3 century – written in Latin,

• and Catholic catechism that was teaching superiority of the pope and the ordainedpriesthood.

• Tyndale on the other hand had according to the Anglicans gone to far in the other direction –equality for all Christians. (“We are all priests”)

• In 1604 King James comissioned a new bible• This was done in partnership with the Anglican

church.• The innstructions to the translaters was as

follows: • They had to guaranty the new translation to

conform to “the theology and episcopal (hierarchical) structure of the Angelical church”

• (this structure is very similar to the catholic and orthodox church with ordained clergy, archbishops, bishops and die sees)

• They were also instructed to translate “certain Greek words” in a manner that reflected the “traditional use of the church”

• Example: Tyndale's use of the word congregation or assembly (Ecclesia) was to be translated “church” (as in institutional church)

• This was to bring the translation in tune with “the high church” – liturgy, formality, rituals, mass

• (Low church” was defined by: simplicity, equality, every man a priest)

• Together with the angelical bishops, 47 translators was chosen.

• 46 of them were church of England priests and 1 was an language expert.

• 83% of the scriptures ended up being the same as the Tyndale Bible

• 17% was “updated” to conform to the church.

• Some old Greek new testament manuscript from the time period 300 – 500 AD was also used as source material.

• The King James Bible was completed in 1611.

• It was only printed in a large format (38 cm x 30 cm) since it was only to be used and read from in the church or by the priests.

• The translators did not get paid for their job. Instead they were promised “high positions” in the church as they came available.

• The printers in London charged 10 shillings for a loose leaf version and 12 shillings for a bound.

• This photo shows the following Bible page:

• The epistle of Pavl –the apostle to the Hebrews.

• (At least they got this right…)

• King James’ support (partnership) with the Anglican church angered the puritans (Calvinists)

• They still preferred the Tyndale Bible that was more “low church”

• The puritans demanded an end to use of the title “Priest” and the use of cap, surplice and liturgical coat.

• King James demanded conformity and the puritans felt persecuted.

• (Many of them decided to leave for America)

• King James was later accused of having several male lovers.

• After age 50 he lost his teeth, suffered from arthritis, gout and kidney stone.

• He also drank heavily.

• Eventually he got seriously ill, had a stroke and died in 1625.

• He was berried in Westminster Abbey in London.

Those who advocate that the KJV has exclusive rights to being called the Holy Bibleare always, curiously, English-speaking people (normally isolated Americans). Yet, Martin Luther’s fine translation of the Bible into German predated the KJV by almost 100 years.

• The fact of the matter is:

• The Bible is only – I repeat, only 100% correct written in it’s original language,

• Hebrew for the Old Testament, and

• Greek for the New Testament.

• Every other language edition is a translation.

• A translation requires interpretation.

• A interpretation is rooted in the interpreters theological and church political views.

“I will strongly argue that the KJV has far more drastically altered the scriptures than have modern translations”.

Daniel B. Wallace

Daniel B. Wallace has taught Greek and New Testament courses

on a graduate school level since 1979.

He has a Ph.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary, and is currently

professor of New Testament Studies.

• So the lesson must be:

• Let the Bible – the original - determine your theology.

• Don’t let your theology – incl. social political views - determine your translation of “the Bible”

• Many will argue that King James did just that…

The end