I Have a Problem with the King James Version

On the table next to my bed sits my first Bible, given me by my grandparents for my fourteenth birthday. The full title reads as follows:

THE HOLY BIBLE

CONTAINING THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS

TRANSLATED OUT OF THE ORIGINAL TONGUES

AND WITH THE FORMER TRANSLATIONS

DILIGENTLY COMPARED AND REVISED,

BY HIS MAJESTY'S SPECIAL COMMAND

"His Majesty" who commanded that the Bible be translated was King James I of England (also known as King James VI of Scotland) and this translation is therefore commonly called the King James Version or KJV. It is a Bible I treasure for many reasons and one I still read from time to time but it is not the Bible I use for my personal Bible study or in my ministry as a pastor. There are those who would condemn me for this, who maintain that the KJV is not only the best translation but the only translation into English that can be trusted. I cannot agree.

Now there is no denying the greatness of the KJV. It is arguably the greatest work ever published in the English language. It not only shaped English faith and worship but also the English language itself. English literature is permeated with phrases from and allusions to the KJV. As Alister McGrath has noted: "Without the King James Bible there would have been no Paradise Lost, no Pilgrim's Progress, no Handel's Messiah . . . and no Gettysburg address."

Not only has the KJV inspired poets, writers, musicians and orators but the common people too have taken it to heart and adopted many of its expressions. When we say that someone licked the dust, or that he fell flat on his face, or that a person poured out his heart, or that we stand in awe of something, we are quoting the KJV. When you tell a person that he is a man after your own heart, or ask if someone is still in the land of the living, or say that you have escaped by the skin of your teeth, you are using phrases from the KJV.

No single book has so influenced the English language or the English speaking peoples as the KJV. Albert Cook, Professor of English at Yale University in the 1920s, was correct when he wrote: "No other book has so penetrated the hearts and speech of the English race as has the Bible. What Homer was the Greeks, and the Koran to the Arabs . . . the Bible has become to the English." The Bible of which Cook wrote was, of course, the KJV, the Bible of English speaking peoples since the seventeenth century.

The KJV was first published in 1611 and for the next three hundred and fifty years it was almost the only Bible read by people who spoke English. Other translations were produced but, until the publication of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) in the 1950s, if people read a Bible in English it was almost certainly the KJV that they read. And until the latter part of the twentieth century it was always the KJV that people would hear being read when they attended a church service. Indeed, in England the KJV is commonly called the Authorised Version (AV) because for four centuries it was the only version authorised to be read in the Church of England.

Now I have a deep affection for the KJV. It is the Bible that I grew up with. I love its simple yet elegant language, its vivid and striking imagery, its memorable expressions and delightful cadences. For sheer beauty of language it will always remain supreme among English Bibles. But for all its charm and power, I have a couple of problems with the KJV. Let me tell you one of them.

One problem I have is this: the KJV is not in the language that people speak today. I am a Presbyterian and we Presbyterians have agreed on an official statement of what we believe. It is called the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) and the WCF says that "the Scriptures are to be translated into the common language of every nation to which they come" (The Westminster Confession of Faith: Modern English Study Version, 1.8). In fairness to my brothers and sisters who belong to other Christian communions, I must add that this belief is shared by almost all Christians, not only Presbyterians. My problem is that the KJV is not in the common language of English speaking people in the twenty-first century.

The KJV may have been in the common language of the people of England when it was first published but the English language has changed over the last four hundred years. Indeed it has changed so much that the English of four hundred years ago is unintelligible to many people today. Indeed, some words are now so different in meaning from what they were in the seventeenth century that in places the KJV is not only unintelligible but even misleading.

English vocabulary has changed in two ways since the KJV was translated. First, some words that were in common use in 1611 are now seldom or never used. This means that some words and passages are simply unintelligible to modern readers. These are some of the words to be found in the KJV: almug, chode, chapt, habergeon, hosen, kab, ligure, neesed, ouches, pilled, pruit, ring-sacked, stacte, strake, tatches, trode, trow, wimples, and wot. I wonder how many of these words you know.

If I am in a mischievous mood, I like to ask advocates of the KJV if they can tell me the meaning of we do you to wit. You will find this expression in the KJV at 1 Corinthians 8:1 and in today's English it means we want you to know. I confess that I find a certain quaintness and charm in we do you to wit but it is certainly not the language of English speaking people today, at least not of the people that I know.

There is a second way in which English vocabulary has changed over the centuries. While some words have fallen out of use, others have taken on different meanings. We can see some of these changes by looking at how a few passages were translated in the KJV of 1611 and the English Standard Version (ESV) of 2001.

First let us look at Genesis 25:29.
Jacob sod pottage (KJV).
Jacob was cooking stew (ESV).
In modern English the word sod is a noun and refers to a piece of turf; in the seventeenth century sod was the past tense of the verb seethe meaning boil or cook. We still use seethetoday in the expression seethe with anger but we do not say he sod with anger.

Our second example comes from 2 Kings 3:9.
They fetched a compass of seven days' journey (KJV).
They made a circuitous march of seven days (ESV).
In our day the word compass is usually a noun and refers to an instrument for determining direction; in King James's day compass was usually a verb meaning to go around or make a circuit.

For our third example let us look at Psalm 5:6.
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing (KJV).
You destroy those who speak lies (ESV).
Today when we are leasing we are allowing or obtaining the use of something (usually a property or motor vehicle) by paying money; if we were leasing four hundred years ago, we were being loose with the truth, that is, we were telling lies.

Our next example comes from Psalm 88:13. It is part of a prayer to God.
In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee (KJV).
In the morning my prayer comes before you (ESV).
In today's English to prevent means to hinder or stop something; four hundred years ago to prevent meant to precede or go before, with no thought of any hindrance.

Our last example is taken from 1 Peter 2:12.
Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles (KJV).
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable (ESV).
Today we understand conversation to refer to an informal exchange of thought by spoken words; in the seventeenth century conversation referred to a person's behavior or manner of life. 

These are but five of very many examples that could be given. Like the demons dwelling in the poor man of Gadara, their number is legion.

When the Bible was written it was written in the language of the people. When it is translated it should also be translated into the language of the people. When the KJV was published in 1611 it was published in the language of the people of that time. But the language of 1611 is not the language of 2011. The KJV is no longer in the language of the people.

The language of the KJV may be beautiful but it is obsolete. It does not give the message of the ancient writers to modern readers. It does not speak to the common person. For many ordinary people today much of it is simply not intelligible. We do not read the Bible to be entranced by its language but to learn about God and what God requires of us and we cannot learn if we do not understand.

Connoisseurs of the English language and English literature may enjoy reading the KJV but even they must admit that its language is not the language of people today. As much as we might love the KJV as a monument of the English language, as much as we might delight in it cadences and its poetry, and as much as we might find pleasure in its turns of phrase and quaint expressions, we must acknowledge that it is simply not a good translation for the twenty-first century.

The first questions to ask of any translation of the Bible are not, Is it beautiful to the ear? and Is it elegant in its style? but Is it understandable to the reader? and Is it faithful to the original?  We have seen that the KJV is not understandable to today's reader. In a future article we will see that it is also not faithful to the original writers. And that is an even bigger problem.

TO BE CONTINUED

Copyright © 2010, 2021 Ronald Nugent

Ten Good Books for Young (and Old) Christians

About thirty years ago, a couple of young Christians, both students at university, asked me if I could give them a list of good Christian books to read.  Over the years others have asked me the same question, and over the years, as I have discovered new books, I have made a few changes to my list.  I am publishing my current list here for the benefit of any young (and old) Christians who may be looking for good books to help them grow in their faith, love and hope.

I have restricted my list to ten books and, with a couple of exceptions, I have chosen relatively short books.  My first criterion for choosing a book is, of course, its spiritual usefulness.  In making my choice, I have tried to select outstanding authors, in the hope that having read one book by that author, the reader may want to read other books by the same person.   Also, I have chosen books that are easy to read and understand, that are  easily accessible in good Christian bookstores, and that are available as Kindle books from Amazon. (I regret that the Banner of Truth edition of the Heidelberg Catechism, which is the one I favour, is not available as a Kindle book.  However, you can download a pdf version here).   

I have chosen only older books that have proven themselves by enduring through the generations and have become Christian classics.  This means that no contemporary authors are included, as their books have not yet been exposed to the test of time.  The list includes two books from the sixteenth century, two from the seventeenth, two from the nineteenth, and four from the twentieth. For the books from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, I have listed recent versions in today's English, which are much easier to read than the older versions.  I encourage you to obtain the recommended modern versions, as the English in the original versions can be rather difficult for most twentieth century readers, especially for those for whom English is their second language.

The books can be read in any order; you don't have to begin with the first; you can begin with the last, if you wish. Also, for some of them (those by J.C. Ryle, C.H. Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and J.I. Packer) the chapters can be read in any order.     

One more thing (this is very important): don't forget to read your Bible.  Do read good books, but don't fall into the trap of being so taken up with reading books about the Bible that you neglect the Bible itself.  

Here, then, is my list:

• John Calvin, A Little Book on the Christian Life (edited by Clay Denlinger and Burk Parsons, published by Reformation Trust). 

• Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, The Heidelberg Catechism (published by the Banner of Truth Trust).

• John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version (revised by Alan Vermilye, published by Brown Chair Books).

• John Owen, Overcoming Sin and Temptation (edited by Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor, published by Crossway).   

• J.C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots (published by Ichthus Publications).

• C.H. Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon's Prayers, (introduced by Dinsdale Young, published by CreateSpace Publishing).

• Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure (published by Marshall Pickering).

• J.I. Packer, Knowing God (with Study Guide, published by Hodder & Stoughton). 

• John Stott, The Cross of Christ (with Study Guide by David Stone, published by IVP Books). 

• Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (with Study Guide, published by NavPress).

By reading good books, especially older books, we are able to sit at the feet of some of the greatest teachers God has given his church.  Let us not let this opportunity go to waste, and let us read carefully and prayerfully.