King James Version

The King James Bible (English King James Version (KJV ) ) is an English translation of the Bible. It was commissioned by King James I of England for the Anglican Church. Hence also the name of the King James Bible because King James is the English form of King James. Since its first publication in 1611, it is the most influential English-language translation of the Bible. In the period following seven editions were issued; the resulting 1769 is today used in the main proceedings.

Origin

The KJB was created as a response to the Protestant doctrine, not the interpretation by Upper Church, but the Bible itself is the basis of Christian doctrine ( " Sola Scriptura "). To every Christian to allow access to Scripture, the translation of the Bible into the vernacular became necessary as a result of the Reformation. While there had been in the Early Middle Ages - before the Catholic Church began to permit only the Latin Bible - where translations of parts of the Bible into Anglo-Saxon; the first English translations of the Bible in the true sense were created but only about 100 years before the publication of the KJV, namely the Tyndale Bible translation that was made by the Protestant theologian William Tyndale. The English Church used the officially sanctioned " Bishops ' Bible ", which was hardly ever used in the population. Popular was the " Geneva Bible ," which was created in Geneva under the direct successor of the Reformer John Calvin for the English-language trailer. However, their footnotes representing a Calvinist Puritanism, the King James was too radical. Especially the decidedly anti-royalist tone of the Geneva Bible was unbearable for King James I, for he was strong advocate of divine right. The translators of the Geneva Bible had the word king translated to the four hundred times with bully. This was intolerable for him, why does not find the word tyrant once in the KJB.

From 1533, when Henry VIII the supreme ecclesiastical power conferred upon the King of England, by William Tyndale translated text was revised in 1526, which became the basis for today's globally widespread Authorized Version or King James Bible of 1611. Jacob called to a synod in 1604 at Hampton Court Palace, where he proposed a new translation that was to replace the popular Geneva Bible. The translators was offered here, the doctrine of the Anglican Church to follow and to refrain from polemical footnotes. Among other things, he demanded:

• Possible to follow the " Bishop's Bible" as far as, and to follow in the name of biblical people everyday use;
• Not to replace traditional religious custom to follow, and the word church ( "church" ) by congregation ( " community ");
• To use footnotes only for word description;
• Find the text of the translation by consensus of all translators;
• To consult other scholars in disagreement.

The translation was by 47 scholars, divided created in a number of working groups. Each group worked on a Bible passage, which were subsequently harmonized with each other. The working groups were:

• First Westminster Company ( 1 Genesis to 2 Kings ): Lancelot Andrewes, John Overall, Hadrian Saravia, Richard Clarke, John Laifield, Robert Tighe, Francis Burleigh, Geoffrey King, Richard Thompson, William Bedwell.
• First Cambridge Company ( 1 Chronicles to the Song of Songs ): Edward Lively, John Richardson, Lawrence Chaderton, Francis Dillingham, Roger Andrews, Thomas Harrison, Robert Spaulding, Andrew Bing.
• First Oxford Company ( Isaiah to Malachi ): John Harding, John Reynolds, Thomas Holland, Richard Kilby, Miles Smith, Richard Brett, Daniel Fairclough.
• Second Oxford Company ( the four Gospels, the Acts, and the Book of Revelation ): Thomas Ravis, George Abbot, Richard Eedes, Giles Tomson, Henry Savile, John Peryn, Ralph Ravens, John Harmar.
• Second Westminster Company ( the letters of the New Testament ): William Barlow, John Spencer, Roger Fenton, Ralph Hutchinson, William Dakin, Michael Rabbet, Thomas Sanderson.
• Second Cambridge Company ( The Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books): John Duport, William Brainthwaite, Jeremiah Radcliffe, Samuel Ward, Andrew Downes, John Bois, John Ward, John Aglionby, Leonard Hutten, Thomas Bilson, Richard Bancroft.

Literary quality

Both the prose and poetry of the KJV are traditionally estimated; However, the transformation of the English language since its publication have the text appear archaic to the modern reader. Common linguistic anachronisms are the use of the words thou, thee, thine, thy, thyself (2nd person singular thou, thee thine; modern English used you, your, yours, yourself).

A linguistic peculiarity is the use of the possessive genitive form, such as his ( the animal) blood, which would mean in Middle English his blood, in Modern- its blood. The slightly older translation by William Tyndale, who was born when the transition from Middle English to Modern English was just in full swing, bypassed this problem by using the form the blood thereof, "the blood of it," which is possible in both language forms. The KJV followed this now as perceived biblical expression.

However, were partially neither his nor its uses, but the nouns were as associated with one gender in German, so that the word of her sometimes was permitted: And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her ​​untimely figs, When she is shaken of a mighty wind. (Revelation 6:13)

The translators of the KJV also not afraid to use it today perceived as offensive turns when the literal translation of this is required ( 1 Samuel, chapter 25, verse 22. So and so more do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any did pisseth against the wall. ). Almost all recent English Bibles (and most German ) translated in such cases euphemisms that correspond to the original text only imprecisely. The miniature Bible by Franz Eugen Schlachter from 1905 and the revision of 1951, and the Zurich Bible also had this translation.

The translators used the Masoretic text of the Old and published by Erasmus of Rotterdam Textus Receptus for the New Testament. They succeeded in a very close text translation; not present in the original text, but implied words are enclosed in square brackets and italics, in the early editions by Antiqua within the Gothic text body. In the New Testament the translation is hard to complain about, in the Old Testament, however, find many translation forms, showing that the translators of the Hebrew vocabulary and structures of Hebrew grammar understood only imperfectly - put the Christian Hebrew studies at that time still in its infancy.

Modern translations of the Bible use partly on new manuscript discoveries based source texts. This also some substantive differences between the KJV and modern translations arise; these are considered and rejected by a minority of conservative Christians, especially in the U.S., as a distortion of the 'true' Bible. However, the majority of the American conservative Protestants today uses the " New International Version " of the Bible, a relatively free modern translation. In addition, pleased there the " New King James Version " ( NKJV, first edition 1982) great popularity, which has retained the now partially unusual word order of the KJV, only uncommon today words replaced by modern, and one of the few current translations of the Bible in the New Testament after the Textus receptus was revised.

Further development

Although the KJV should replace the " Bishops ' Bible " as the official Bible of the Anglican Church, there is no explicit adoption is known. However, the KJV put in use by the church.

In broad strata of the population, the Geneva Bible was preferred long; up to the English Civil War it remained in use. After that was their use as politically problematic as they represented the bygone era of Puritanism. The KJV gained widespread use and popularity.

New editions of the KJV differ in the following points from the first edition from:

• The originally recorded in the KJV Apocrypha and Deuterocanonicals books are mostly lacking in new editions. This omission follows the teachings of the Anglican church, which regards those books inspired as not divine.
• The first edition contained a number of text alternatives when no consensus on the interpretation of the original text is. These variants are not usually included; only the American Cornerstone UltraThin Reference Bible, published by Broadman and Holman, it contains today.
• The first edition had comments when a section of text is quote of another, or a direct reference represents. These notes are rarely included in modern editions.
• The original dedication of the translation to King James I is found today in the UK, more rarely in other issues.
• An introduction to the translators who justify their work and explain their intentions and methods, missing in nearly all spending.
• The extensive appendices of the first edition, for example, via calendar calculation, are lacking in the modern editions.
• The print set of the first edition used "v" for the lowercase "u " and " v" word-initially, and "u" for " u" and " v" in the word. The "s " in the word inside was represented by " s". The "j " came only after "i" or the last letter before in Roman numerals. Punctuation marks were different than today. The article "the " was replaced by " ye", which was the Middle English letters þ ( " thorn " ) by a " y". Next there is " ã" for the letter combinations "on" or " on " ( a kind of shorthand ) to close of printing.

Modern editions is 1769, published by the University of Oxford Text to reason that featured in the original missing words in italics as well as some printing errors and then corrected already anachronistic expressions. Expressions that were uncommon until after 1769, can be found, however, in the recent editions of the KJV.

The original text ( ISBN 1-56563-160-9 ) available in an edition by Thomas Nelson ( ISBN 0-517-36748-3 ) and an annotated edition of Hendrickson Publishers.

End of the 19th century became King James Version for the first time again competition. 1881 came the New Testament and the Old Testament in 1885 the so-called Revised Version. This is based in the New Testament largely on the Greek text of the edition The New Testament in the Original Greek of Westcott and Hort. Very similar to, but not identical to the American Standard Version, published in 1900 and 1901.

Copyright

In the UK, the KJV is subject to an ongoing copyright of the state, essentially to put it as an official document of the state church under continuous protection. Therefore British editions require a license from the government or the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, who own the printing rights. Annotated Bibles do not have this protection. In all other States, the KJV is the Commons, may therefore be used by anyone in any manner.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints ( commonly known as " Mormons " ) published an edition that contains amendments to the text of the Bible by the church founder Joseph Smith, and references to the Book of Mormon and its other scriptures in footnotes, and also a copy of the Mormon Bible in a band with the book and the other existing in this church scriptures.