There are still some out there who
will insist on only using the 1611 King James Version of the Bible. They often
tell you that the 1611 King James is the inspired word of God, and that
all other translations are inferior, or even Satanic counterfeits. They don't
realize that the 1611 King James Bible that they hold in their hands is
actually Revision Number Four of the King James Bible, completed in
1769. Although they insist that everybody use the 1611 King James Version, they
don't realize that they themselves are actually using the 1769 version
of the King James Bible (the 4th revision of the KJV!).
You can order an actual 1611 King James
Bible through Thomas Nelson Publishers. If you think the so-called 1611 King
James Bible is archaic and hard to understand, you should see this reproduction
done by Thomas Nelson of the real 1611 King James Bible. For instance, Exodus
14:7 reads, "And hee tooke sixe hundred chosen charets, and all the
charets of Egypt, and captaines ouer euery one of them." (This is a verse
that I chose at random.) At the top of the page, we learn that this is
"Chap. xiiij," rather than chapter 14. However, even this is updated
from the actual 1611 King James. Thomas Nelson wanted to be kind to us, so they
printed this 1611 King James Bible using Roman letters for easy reading. The
original 1611 King James was printed in Gothic-type letters, which is much
harder to read. Also, a real 1611 KJV has the Apocrypha, from the
Inter-Testamental period.
Today's so-called 1611 King James Bible (actually
the 1769 King James) has approximately 100,000 changes from the actual 1611
King James Bible. Most of these changes are spelling changes, as shown above
from the quote in Exodus 14:7. However, there are also changes in words and
sentence structure, as well as changes in grammar and punctuation. I'm not
knocking the actual 1611 King James Bible, nor am I condemning the 1769 King
James Bible (Revision Number 4 of the KJV), which passes itself off as the 1611
King James Bible. These are good translations. But they are not perfect!
These are imperfect (although good)
translations of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.[1] I happen to like the New
American Standard, but that is also an imperfect translation. There are no
perfect translations of the Bible. That's why we recommend that people study
Hebrew and if possible get a good concordance and perhaps an Interlinear
version of the Bible. We also recommend that you compare translations. RAC
Exactly what is a revision? The Webster’s
New Collegiate Dic-tionary says that revision is an act of revising.
Revise, in the same dictionary, says that it is “too look at again in order to
correct or improve; to make new, amended, improved, or to-up-date a version.”
In other words, it could mean anything from making minor changes to completely
overhauling a book or document.
Yes, according to the dictionary
definition, the King James Bible has been revised. From a book by F. H. A.
Scrivener, titled The Authorized Edition of the English Bible (1611), Its
Subsequent Reprints and Modern Representatives, we find that it has
undergone four revisions. The questions that need to be answered are how extensive
were these revisions, and how do the new editions differ from the original King
James Bible of 1611?
Revision Number
one, 1629 edition. This was an endeavor to correct
printing errors in the original 1611 edition. Two of the men who were members
of the original translation committee led the effort.
Revision number
two, 1638 edition. This is actually a continuation of
the earlier attempt to get all the printing errors corrected. It was not a
different Bible but was the same in content as the 1611 edition.
Revision number
three, 1762 edition. This edition was brought about
because of the changes wrought in the English language since 1611. This effort
was to update the language to the spellings and pronunciation of that time.
There was no attempt made to rewrite the Bible, or to use a new underlying
text. This edition was actually the beginning of the updating process, which
extended to the next edition of 1769.
Revision Number
four, 1769 edition. This edition was the culmination of
the efforts to update the language, which started in 1762. If one compares the
1611 edition to the 1769 edition, it can be seen that the thousands of changes
that modern scholars are always focusing on are really changes in spelling.
What we have today is the 1769 edition of the 1611 King James Bible. It is the
same in content as the one that was presented to King James in 1611.
Other revisions. There
are no other revisions as far as changes in the English text are concerned.
There were several other editions such as the 1629 printing that left out
the Apocrypha and the 1680 Bible which added Ussher’s Chronology, but
these, and others like them, all used the current edition of the time and
affected no changes in the actual words.
source:
www.twogistates.com