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| title = King James Version
| image = [[File:King-James-Version-Bible-first-edition-title-page-1611.png|200px|The title page's central text is:<br />"THE <big>HOLY BIBLE,</big><br />Conteyning the Old Testament,<br />''AND THE NEW:<br />Newly Translated out of the Original tongues: & with the former Translations diligently compared and revised, by his Majesties speciall Comandement.<br />Appointed to be read in Churches.<br />Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the Kings most Excellent Majestie.''<br />ANNO DOM. 1611&nbsp;."<br />At bottom is:<br />"''C. Boel fecit in Richmont.''".]]
| image_caption = The title page to the 1611 first edition of the authorized version of the Bible by [[Cornelis Boel]] shows the Apostles [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] seated centrally above the central text, which is flanked by [[Moses]] and [[Aaron]]. In the four corners sit [[Matthew the Evangelist|Matthew]], [[Mark the Evangelist|Mark]], [[Luke the Evangelist|Luke]] and [[John the Evangelist|John]], the traditionally attributed authors of the four [[gospel]]s, with their symbolic animals. The rest of the [[Twelve Apostles|Apostles]] (with [[Judas Iscariot|Judas]] facing away) stand around Peter and Paul. At the very top is the [[Tetragrammaton]] "יְהֹוָה" written with Hebrew diacritics[[niqqud]].
| abbreviation = KJV{{Efn|The King James Version can also be found abbreviated as either the KJB (King James Bible) or the AV (Authorized Version).}}
| complete_bible_published = 1611
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The '''King James Version''' ('''KJV'''), also the '''King James Bible''' ('''KJB''') and the '''Authorized Version''' ('''AV'''), is an [[Early Modern English Bible translations|Early Modern English translation]] of the [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Bible]] for the [[Church of England]], which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of King [[James VI and I]].{{efn|James acceded to the throne of Scotland as James VI in 1567, and to that of England and Ireland as James I in 1603. The correct style is therefore "James VI and I".}}<!-- Note to editors. Please stop re-reverting over this. The note will summarize for readers who may not be aware of the details. -->{{efn| "And now at last, ... it being brought unto such a conclusion, as that we have great hope that the Church of ''England'' (sic) shall reape good fruit thereby ..."{{sfn|KJV Dedicatorie|1611}}}} The [[List of books of the King James Version|80 books of the King James Version]] include 39 books of the [[Old Testament]], 14 books of [[Biblical apocrypha|Apocrypha]], and the 27 books of the [[New Testament]].
 
Noted for its "majesty of style", the King James Version has been described as one of the most important books in English culture and a driving force in the shaping of the English-speaking world.{{r|hunt20110209}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zmc6f|title=The King James Bible: The Book That Changed the World – BBC Two|publisher=BBC}}</ref> The King James Version remains the preferred translation of many [[Christian fundamentalistProtestant]]s and religious movementsChristians,{{Citation needed|reason=and Thisis seemconsidered like[[King aJames veryOnly sweepingmovement|the statementonly tovalid makeone]] withoutby anysome pointer[[Evangelicals]]. towards evidence|date=May 2024}} and itIt is considered one of the important literary accomplishments of early modern England.
 
The KJV was the third translation into English approved by the English Church authorities: The first had been the [[Great Bible]] (1535), and the second had been the [[Bishops' Bible]] (1568).{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=204}} In Switzerland the first generation of [[Protestant Reformers]] had produced the [[Geneva Bible]]<ref>The Sixth Point of Calvinism, The Historicism Research Foundation, Inc., 2003, {{ISBN|09620681-4-4}}</ref> which was published in 1560<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yzxfAAAAcAAJ&dq=sir+rowland+hill+bible+geneva+bible&pg=PP27 |title=The Holy Bible ... With a General Introduction and Short Explanatory Notes, by B. Boothroyd |date=1836 |publisher=James Duncan |language=en}}</ref> having referred to the original Hebrew and Greek scriptures, which was influential in the writing of the Authorized King James Version.
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{{blockquote|First, [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]] iv. 25 (from the Bishops' Bible). The Greek word ''susoichei'' is not well translated as now it is, bordereth neither expressing the force of the word, nor the apostle's sense, nor the situation of the place. Secondly, [[Psalms|psalm]] cv. 28 (from the [[Great Bible]]), 'They were not obedient;' the original being, 'They were not disobedient.' Thirdly, psalm cvi. 30 (also from the Great Bible), 'Then stood up Phinees and prayed,' the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] hath, 'executed judgment.'{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=433}}}}
 
Instructions were given to the translators that were intended to use [[Formalformal equivalence|Formal Equivalence]] and limit the Puritan influence on this new translation. The [[Bishop of London]] added a qualification that the translators would add no marginal notes (which had been an issue in the ''Geneva Bible'').{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=439}} King James cited two passages in the Geneva translation where he found the marginal notes offensive to the principles of [[Divine right of kings|divinely ordained royal supremacy]]:{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=434}} Exodus 1:19, where the ''Geneva Bible'' notes had commended the example of civil disobedience to the Egyptian [[Pharaoh]] showed by the [[Shiphrah and Puah|Hebrew midwives]], and also II Chronicles 15:16, where the ''Geneva Bible'' had criticized King Asa for not having executed his idolatrous 'mother', Queen Maachah (Maachah had actually been Asa's grandmother, but James considered the Geneva Bible reference as sanctioning the execution of his own mother [[Mary, Queen of Scots]]).{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=434}}
 
Further, the King gave the translators instructions designed to guarantee that the new version would conform to the [[ecclesiology]] of the Church of England.{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=439}} Certain Greek and Hebrew words were to be translated in a manner that reflected the traditional usage of the church.{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=439}} For example, old ecclesiastical words such as the word "church" were to be retained and not to be translated as "congregation".{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=439}} The new translation would reflect the [[episcopal polity|episcopal]] structure of the Church of England and traditional beliefs about [[ordination|ordained]] clergy.{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=439}}
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It is for this reason that the flyleaf of most printings of the ''Authorized Version'' observes 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 commandment." As the work proceeded, more detailed rules were adopted as to how variant and uncertain readings in the Hebrew and Greek source texts should be indicated, including the requirement that words supplied in English to 'complete the meaning' of the originals should be printed in a different type face.{{sfn|Norton|2005|p=10}}
 
===Translation Committeecommittees===
The task of translation was undertaken by 47 scholars, although 54 were originally approved.{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=436}} All were members of the Church of England and all except [[Henry Savile (Bible translator)|Sir Henry Savile]] were clergy.{{sfn|Bobrick|2001|p=223}} The scholars worked in six committees, two based in each of the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and [[Westminster Abbey|Westminster]]. The committees included scholars with Puritan sympathies, as well as [[high church]]men. Forty unbound copies of the 1602 edition of the ''Bishops' Bible'' were specially printed so that the agreed changes of each committee could be recorded in the margins.{{sfn|Daniell|2003|p=442}}
 
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The six committees started work towards the end of 1604. The Apocrypha committee finishing first, and all six completed their sections by 1608. {{sfn|Norton|2005|p=11}} From January 1609, a General Committee of Review met at [[Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers|Stationers' Hall, London]] to review the completed marked texts from each of the committees, and were paid for their attendance by the Stationers' Company. The General Committee included [[John Bois]], [[Andrew Downes (scholar)|Andrew Downes]], [[John Harmar]], and others known only by their initials, including "AL" (who may be [[Arthur Lake, Bishop of Bath and Wells|Arthur Lake]]). John Bois prepared a note of their deliberations (in Latin)&nbsp;– which has partly survived in two later transcripts.{{sfn|Bois|Allen|Walker|1969}} Also surviving of the translators' working papers are a bound set of marked-up corrections to one of the forty ''Bishops' Bibles''—covering the Old Testament and Gospels;{{sfn|Norton|2005|p=20}} and also a manuscript translation of the text of the [[Epistles]], excepting those verses where no change was being recommended to the readings in the ''Bishops' Bible''.{{sfn|Norton|2005|p=16}} Archbishop [[Richard Bancroft|Bancroft]] insisted on having a final say making fourteen further changes, of which one was the term "bishopricke" at Acts 1:20.{{sfn|Bobrick|2001|p=257}}
 
===Translation committees===
* '''First Westminster Company''', translated [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] to [[Books of Kings|2 Kings]]: [[Lancelot Andrewes]], [[John Overall (Bishop)|John Overall]], [[Hadrian à Saravia]], [[Richard Clarke (vicar)|Richard Clarke]], [[John Layfield (theologian)|John Layfield]], [[Robert Tighe]], [[Francis Burleigh]], [[Geoffrey King (theologian)|Geoffrey King]], [[Richard Thomson (theologian)|Richard Thomson]], [[William Bedwell]];
* '''First Cambridge Company''', translated [[Books of Chronicles|1 Chronicles]] to the [[Song of Solomon]]: [[Edward Lively]], [[John Richardson (translator)|John Richardson]], [[Lawrence Chaderton]], [[Francis Dillingham]], [[Roger Andrewes]], [[Thomas Harrison (translator)|Thomas Harrison]], [[Robert Spaulding]], [[Andrew Bing]];
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[[File:1760 Cambridge Edition King James Bible.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Title page of the 1760 Cambridge edition]]
 
By the mid-18th century the wide variation in the various modernized printed texts of the Authorized Version, combined with the notorious accumulation of misprints, had reached the proportion of a scandal, and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge both sought to produce an updated standard text. First of the two was the Cambridge edition of 1760, the culmination of 20 years' work by [[Francis Sawyer Parris]],{{sfn|Norton|2005|}} who died in May of that year. This 1760 edition was reprinted without change in 1762{{sfn|Herbert|1968|p=1142}} and in [[John Baskerville]]'s fine folio edition of 1763.{{sfn|Norton|2005|p=106}}
 
This was effectively superseded by the 1769 Oxford edition, edited by [[Benjamin Blayney]],{{sfn|Herbert|1968|p=1196}} though with comparatively few changes from Parris's edition; but which became the Oxford standard text, and is reproduced almost unchanged in most current printings.{{sfn|Norton|2005|p=113}} Parris and Blayney sought consistently to remove those elements of the 1611 and subsequent editions that they believed were due to the vagaries of printers, while incorporating most of the revised readings of the Cambridge editions of 1629 and 1638, and each also introducing a few improved readings of their own.
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In obedience to their instructions, the translators provided no marginal interpretation of the text, but in some 8,500 places a marginal note offers an alternative English wording.{{sfn|Scrivener|1884|p=56}} The majority of these notes offer a more literal rendering of the original, introduced as "Heb", "Chal" ([[Chaldea#Language|Chaldee]], referring to Aramaic), "Gr" or "Lat". Others indicate a variant reading of the source text (introduced by "or"). Some of the annotated variants derive from alternative editions in the original languages, or from variant forms quoted in the [[patristics|fathers]]. More commonly, though, they indicate a difference between the literal original language reading and that in the translators' preferred recent Latin versions: [[Immanuel Tremellius|Tremellius]] for the Old Testament, [[Franciscus Junius (the elder)|Junius]] for the Apocrypha, and [[Theodore Beza|Beza]] for the New Testament.{{sfn|Scrivener|1884|p=43}} At thirteen places in the New Testament<ref>{{cite book|last=Metzger|first=Bruce|title=Historical and Literary Studies|year=1968|publisher=Brill|page=144}}</ref><ref>e.g. {{bibleref|Luke|17:36|KJV}} and {{bibleref|Acts|25:6|KJV}}</ref> a marginal note records a variant reading found in some Greek manuscript copies; in almost all cases reproducing a counterpart textual note at the same place in Beza's editions.{{sfn|Scrivener|1884|p=58}}
 
A few more extensive notes clarify Biblical names and units of measurement or currency. Modern reprintings rarely reproduce these annotated variants—althoughvariants, although they are to be found in the [[New Cambridge Paragraph Bible]]. In addition, there were originally some 9,000 scriptural cross-references, in which one text was related to another. Such cross-references had long been common in Latin Bibles, and most of those in the Authorized Version were copied unaltered from this Latin tradition. Consequently the early editions of the KJV retain many Vulgate verse references—e.g. in the numbering of the [[Psalms]].{{sfn|Scrivener|1884|p=118}} At the head of each chapter, the translators provided a short précis of its contents, with verse numbers; these are rarely included in complete form in modern editions.
 
===Use of typeface===
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===Variations in recent translations===
{{main|List of major textual variants in the New Testament}}
{{see also|List of BibleNew Testament verses not included in modern English translations}}
 
A number of [[Chapters and verses of the Bible|Bible verses]] in the King James Version of the New Testament are not found in more recent Bible translations, where these are based on [[textual criticism|modern critical texts]]. In the early seventeenth century, the source Greek texts of the New Testament which were used to produce Protestant Bible versions were mainly dependent on manuscripts of the late [[Byzantine text-type]], and they also contained minor variations which became known as the [[Textus Receptus]].{{sfn|Metzger|1964|pp=103–06}} With the subsequent identification of much earlier manuscripts, most modern textual scholars value the evidence of manuscripts which belong to the [[Alexandrian text-type|Alexandrian family]] as better witnesses to the original text of the biblical authors,{{sfn|Metzger|1964|p=216}} without giving it, or any family, automatic preference.{{sfn|Metzger|1964|p=218}}
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===Mistranslations===
The King James Version contains several alleged mistranslations, especially in the Old Testament where the knowledge of Hebrew and cognate languages was uncertain at the time.<ref name="Errors in the King James Version?">{{cite web| url=http://www.dbts.edu/journals/1999/combs.pdf| title=Errors in the King James Version? by William W. Combs| access-date=25 April 2015| date=1999| publisher=DBSJ| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923212958/http://www.dbts.edu/journals/1999/combs.pdf| archive-date=23 September 2015| url-status=dead}}</ref> Among the most commonly cited errors is in the Hebrew of Job and Deuteronomy, where {{lang-langx|he|רְאֵם|[[Re'em]]}} with the probable meaning of "wild-ox, [[aurochs]]", is translated in the KJV as "[[unicorn]]"; following in this the Vulgate ''unicornis'' and several medieval rabbinic commentators. The translators of the KJV note the alternative rendering, "rhinocerots"{{Sic}} in the margin at Isaiah 34:7. On a similar note Martin Luther's German translation had also relied on the Latin Vulgate on this point, consistently translating רְאֵם using the German word for unicorn, ''Einhorn''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=Einhorn&qs_version=LUTH1545|title=BibleGateway – : Einhorn|website=biblegateway.com}}</ref> Otherwise, the translators are accused on several occasions to have mistakenly interpreted a Hebrew descriptive phrase as a proper name (or vice versa); as at 2 Samuel 1:18 where 'the [[Book of Jasher (biblical references)|Book of Jasher]]' {{lang-langx|he|סֵפֶר הַיׇּשׇׁר|sepher ha-yasher}} properly refers not to a work by an author of that name, but should rather be rendered as "the Book of the Upright" (which was proposed as an alternative reading in a marginal note to the KJV text).
 
==Influence==
Despite royal patronage and encouragement, there was never any overt mandate to use the new translation. It was not until 1661 that the Authorized Version replaced the ''Bishops' Bible'' in the Epistle and Gospel lessons of the [[Book of Common Prayer]], and it never did replace the older translation in the [[Psalter]]. In 1763 ''[[The Critical Review (newspaper)|The Critical Review]]'' complained that "many false interpretations, ambiguous phrases, obsolete words and indelicate expressions ... excite the derision of the scorner". Blayney's 1769 version, with its revised spelling and punctuation, helped change the public perception of the Authorized Version to a masterpiece of the English language.{{r|hunt20110209}} By the 19th century, [[F. W. Faber]] could say of the translation, "It lives on the ear, like music that can never be forgotten, like the sound of church bells, which the convert hardly knows how he can forego."{{sfn|Hall|1881|p=}}
 
[[Geddes MacGregor]] called the Authorized Version "the most influential version of the most influential book in the world, in what is now its most influential language",{{sfn|MacGregor|1968|p=170}} "the most important book in English religion and culture", and "the most celebrated book in the [[English-speaking world]]". [[David Crystal]] has estimated that it is responsible for 257 idioms in English; examples include [[feet of clay]] and [[wikt:sow the wind, reap the whirlwind|reap the whirlwind]]. Furthermore, prominent [[atheist]] figures such as [[Christopher Hitchens]] and [[Richard Dawkins]] have praised the King James Version as being "a giant step in the maturing of English literature" and "a great work of literature", respectively, with Dawkins then adding, "A native speaker of English who has never read a word of the King James Bible is verging on the barbarian".<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2011/05/hitchens-201105?currentPage=all|title=When the King Saved God|year=2011|magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|publisher=Condé Nast|access-date=10 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/may/19/richard-dawkins-king-james-bible|title=Why I want all our children to read the King James Bible|date=20 May 2012|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date= 10 August 2017}}</ref>
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{{main|King James Only movement}}
 
The [[King James Only movement]] advocates the belief that the King James Version is superior to all other [[Bible translations into English|English translations of the Bible]]. Most adherents of the movement believe that the [[Textus Receptus]] is very close, if not identical, to the original autographs, thereby making it the ideal Greek source for the translation. They argue that manuscripts such as the [[Codex Sinaiticus]] and [[Codex Vaticanus]], on which most modern English translations are based, are corrupted New Testament texts. One of them, Perry Demopoulos, was a director of the translation of the King James Bible into [[Russian language|Russian]]. In 2010 the Russian translation of the KJV of the New Testament was released in [[Kyiv]], [[Ukraine]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Russian: New Testament Bible with Job through Song of Solomon |url=http://store.kjv1611.org/russian-new-testament-bible-with-job-through-song-of-solomon/ |access-date=2018-09-25 |website=Bible Baptist Bookstore}}</ref> In 2017, the first complete edition of a Russian King James Bible was released.<ref>{{Cite web |title=description |url=https://harvestukraine.org/rus/docs/Complete_Rus_Bible_description.htm |access-date=2018-09-25 |website=harvestukraine.org}}</ref> In 2017, a [[Faroese language|Faroese]] translation of the King James Bible was released as well.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heilaga Bíblia |url=https://fkj.fo/ |access-date=2021-08-06 |language=da-DK}}</ref>
 
==Copyright status==
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