Book Description

The 1611 King James Version was a revision of multiple English Bibles from the 1500s: Tyndale’s Bible, Coverdale’s Bible, Matthew’s Bible, Taverner’s Bible, the Great Bible, the Geneva Bible, and the Bishops’ Bible. The 1611 King James Bible translators stated in the Preface that they knew others would revise their work too (1) as more manuscripts came to light and (2) translators had a better understanding of biblical Hebrew and Greek. How many versions of the King James are there? Eventually, five different editions of the King James Version were produced in 1611, 1629, 1638, 1762, and 1769. It is the 1769 edition which is most commonly cited as the King James Version (KJV). The next major revision of the English Bible came in 1881, 1885 Revised Version) and 1901 American Standard Version. Over 30,000 changes were made, of which more than 5,000 represent differences between the Greek text used for the Revised Version and that used as the basis of the King James Version. Most of the other changes were made in the interest of consistency or modernization. Further significant revisions only considering literal translations have been the 1952 Revised Standard Version, the 1960-2020 New American Standard Bible, the 2001 English Standard Version, and the 2022 Updated American Standard Version. We do not need the originals. We do not need those original documents. The Bible was miraculously restored, not miraculously preserved as some would like us to believe. Herein, we will clear up many misunderstandings and misconceptions about the English Bible translations.