The 700 Club
Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible
By Erin Zimmerman
The 700 Club
May 2, 2011
CBN.com -It's the best-selling book of all time and today it turns 400 years old. The King James Bible was first published on May 2, 1611.
At the start of the16th century, only one version of the bible was allowed in England: the Latin Vulgate. But in 1526, a man named William Tyndale defied both the King and the Pope and published a new English translation of the New Testament, the first one ever to use the original Greek sources. He had translated about half the Old Testament from Hebrew when he was arrested and sentenced to death. In 1536, Tyndale was burned at the stake, but even in the midst of the fire, He died with a prayer on his lips.
William Tyndale’s prayer was answered almost 80 years later when a new King took the throne and commissioned an English Bible that would become the bestselling book of all time and change the English language forever.
In 1603, Queen Elizabeth died leaving the British throne to her second cousin James, the King of Scotland. For the new King, expectations were high. James needed to find a way to step out of Elizabeth’s shadow and make his own mark and he found it in a most unlikely place.
When James took the throne, the Church of England was plagued by controversy and corruption, so in 1604, he called a meeting with the bickering church leaders: both the Anglican bishops and the puritans who wanted to reform them.
The Hampton Court Conference was supposed to unify the church, but with everyone competing for the new king's approval, the meeting turned into chaos.
Much of the fighting was focused on England’s two Bibles. The puritans favored the Geneva translation. It was the most popular Bible in England, but it was full of marginal notes that criticized the church and the crown. In response, the bishops published their own bible, an inferior translation mandated for use in the Church of England. James didn't like either of the Bibles so puritan leader John Reynolds made a suggestion to make one Bible for all people.
The translation took seven years and brought together 47 of England’s best Greek and Hebrew scholars. More than 80% of their work was based on the work of William Tyndale who had given his life for the Bible 75 years earlier.
The result was the most accurate translation in England’s history.
On May 2, 1611, the King James Bible was printed. For the first time, the English people had the same bible both at church and at home.
King James never lived to see the worldwide success of the Bible he commissioned. The rest of his reign was marked by scandal and political turmoil. Just 14 years later, he died, but James left a legacy that reached far beyond the British Isles.
Since 1611, the Bible has gone around the world In more than four thousand languages, but the task of translation is not complete. More than 300 million people, speaking over two thousand languages still don't have a Bible As we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James bible, let us pray that all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues can have a bible to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light.
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