The King James Version (KJV) is an English translation of the Holy Bible, commissioned for the benefit of the Church of England at the behest of King James I of England. First published in 1611, it has had a profound impact on not only most English translations that have followed it, but also on English literature as a whole. The works of famous authors such as John Bunyan, John Milton, Herman Melville, John Dryden and William Wordsworth are replete with inspiration apparently derived from the King James Version. Bibles from the English Revised Version to the New American Standard Bible, the Revised Standard Version, and the New King James Version are revisions of its text; it has deeply influenced Bibles such as the New International Version that do not claim to be revisions of its text.
Though often referred to as the Authorised Version (AV) or the Authorised Standard Version (ASV), it was never officially sanctioned by the English monarchy or the clerical hierarchy of the Church of England. It is no longer in copyright in most parts of the world but is under perpetual Crown copyright in the United Kingdom. The King James Version, despite its age, is largely comprehensible to the average reader today. It is considered to be an instrumental founding block of modern English, and remains one of the most widely-read literary works from its time, surpassed only by the works of playwright William Shakespeare.
Protestantism derived from Martin Luther the idea that the Bible was the sole source of doctrine (see sola scriptura) and as such should be translated into the local vernacular. The act of Bible translation into any vernacular was a political as well as a religious statement, and remained so whether the Bible translation was a private endeavour, or sponsored by a monarch and his government. The English translations made by John Wyclif's followers, and later by William Tyndale, were the opening salvos of the Protestant Reformation in England and Scotland.
By the time that the King James Bible was written, there was already a tradition going back almost a hundred years of Bible translation into English. The King James Bible represents a revision of Tyndale's translation. Tyndale was a "Lutheran" to the extent that denominational labels had meaning in 1525, i.e., a supporter of Luther's movement to reform the whole Christian community, when his New Testament appeared in 1525. Tyndale's translation was deliberately provocative in a number of ways; he rendered Greek presbuteros, traditionally translated as "priest", as "elder" – a literal translation that slighted the connection between the Catholic clergy and the biblical text; in a similar fashion he translated ekklesia, traditionally "church", as "congregation"; these renditions were at the basis of a notorious controversy between Tyndale and Sir Thomas More, who took the establishment's side. Still, despite these controversial renderings, the merits of Tyndale's work and prose style made his translation the basis for most of the subsequent renditions into Early Modern English, even though Tyndale himself was burned at the stake for heresy. With these controversial translations lightly edited, Tyndale's New Testament and Pentateuch became the basis for the Great Bible, the first "authorized version" issued by the Church of England later in the reign of King Henry VIII.
In May 1601 King James VI of Scotland attended the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at St Columba's Church in Burntisland, Fife, and proposals were put forward for a new translation of the Bible into English. Two years later he acceded to the throne of England as James I of England.
The King James Bible was first conceived at the Hampton Court conference which the new King James I called in 1604 to settle various religious grievances. According to an eyewitness account: Dr. John Rainolds "moved his majesty that there might be a new translation of the Bible, because those which were allowed in the reign of king Henry the Eight and Edward the Sixt were corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the original."
Rainolds offered three examples of problems with existing translations: "First, Galatians iv. 25. The Greek word susoichei is not well translated as now it is, bordereth neither expressing the force of the word, nor the apostles sense, nor the situation of the place. Secondly, psalm cv. 28, 'They were not obedient;' the original being, 'They were not disobedient.' Thirdly, psalm cvi. 30, 'Then stood up Phinees and prayed,' the Hebrew hath, 'executed judgment.'"
King James proposed that a new translation be commissioned to settle the controversies; he hoped a new translation would replace the Geneva Bible and its offensive notes in the popular esteem. After the Bishop of London added a qualification that no marginal notes were to be added to Rainold's new Bible, the king cited two passages in the Geneva translation where he found the notes offensive. King James gave the translators instructions, which were designed to discourage polemical notes, and to guarantee that the new version would be conformed to the ecclesiology of the Church of England. Eventually four different editions of the King James Version were produced in 1629, 1638, 1762, and 1769. It is the 1769 edition which is most commonly cited as the King James Version (KJV).
King James's instructions included requirements that:
1) The ordinary Bible, read in the church, commonly called the Bishops' Bible,
to be followed, and as little altered as the original will permit...
3) The old ecclesiastical words to be kept; as the word
church, not to be translated congregation, &c.
4) When any word hath divers significations, that to be kept which has been most commonly used by the
most eminent fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place, and the
analogy of the faith...
6) No marginal notes at all to be affixed, but
only for the explanation of the Hebrew or Greek words, which cannot, without
some circumlocution, so briefly and fitly be expressed in the text.
7) Such quotations of places to be marginally set down, as shall serve for the
fit references of one scripture to another...
13) These translations to be used when they agree better with the text than the Bishop's Bible, viz.
Tyndale's,
Coverdale's,
Matthew's, Whitchurch,
Geneva.
King James's instructions made it clear that he wanted the resulting translation to contain a minimum of controversial notes and apparatus, and that he wanted the episcopal structure of the Established Church, and traditional beliefs about an ordained clergy to be reflected in the new translation. His order directed the translators to revise the Bishop's Bible, comparing other named English versions. It is for this reason that the flyleaves of most printings of the King James Bible observe that the text had been "translated out of the original tongues, and with the former translations diligently compared and revised (by His Majesty's special command.)" At least 80% of the King James New Testament is unaltered from Tyndale's translation.
The King James Version was translated by 54 scholars (although the names of only 51 survive) working in six committees, two based in each of Oxford University, Cambridge University, and Westminster. They worked on certain parts separately; then the drafts produced by each committee were compared and revised for harmony with each other. The scholars were not paid for their translation work, but were required to support themselves as best they could. Many were supported by the various colleges at Oxford and Cambridge.