Who Translated The King James Bible?

Last updated on: December 27, 2016 at 9:22 am by Jack Wellman

Who Translated The King James Bible? 2016-12-27T09:22:38-06:00 Jack Wellman

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Who translated the King James Bible and why?

Authors of the Bible

The true Author of the Bible is not man. It is as the Apostle Paul said; “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2nd Tim 3:16). This is so that the woman and “the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2nd Tim 3:17). The Apostle Peter, speaking for the other apostles, wrote “we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2nd Pet 1:16), so “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation” (2nd Pet 1:20), and “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2nd Pet 1:21). That’s like imagining my keyboard taking credit for what I am writing. The authors of the Bible still retained their personal distinctions, experiences, and literary style, yet “they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” and not writing what God thought they should write. It was what the Holy Spirit “breathed out” to them to record.

The King James Bible

Why was there even a need for King James to produce a Bible? King James I of England authorized that a new translation of the Bible into English and it was finished in 1611, just 85 years after the first translation of the New Testament into English appeared by William Tyndale, in 1526. That, and the fact that King James I did not like the Puritans very much or their Geneva Bible. It may well have been because of jealousy that King James I ordered a new translation of the Bible; a revised version; the King James Version. So it was ordered in 1604. Part of the reason may have been the copies of Scripture that they had may have been corrupt as some were obviously poor translations. That answers the “why” the King James Bible came to be, by who translated it? Does it compare with other translations of today?

The Translators

To be honest, we don’t know very much about the men who translated the King James Bible. We do know from their writings about this project that they were completely dedicated to this in a way that nothing else in their life mattered, and “out of many good ones, one principal good one” by using the Textus Receptus line. King James I appointed fifty of the nation’s finest language scholars and approved rules for carefully checking the results. They would have to check each other and be very diligent. The King insisted on Rule # 6 which stated, “No Marginal Notes at all to be affixed, but only for the explanation of the Hebrew or Greek Words.” The King James Bible I have contains the Hebrew, Greek, and the little bit of Aramaic in the margins so I can easily see what the original word was. Other great features of the King James Bible that I have (and many do) are the words in italics. The words that are italicized are words that are not in the original manuscripts, and I am glad to know that. Wouldn’t you want to know when the translators inserted a word? I would.

The Charge Given Translators

King James I was the one who oversaw that the new translation would be as accurate as possible, and so part of his edict was that a “uniform translation, which should be done by the best learned men in both Universities, then reviewed by the Bishops, presented to the Privy Council, lastly ratified by the Royal authority,” so that there would be no errors to be found. That is why the king had the very best of English scholarship available and poured in tremendous resources to ensure they got it right. Can you imagine having all 50 scholars agree on one translation for every word by using other sources, including the Textus Receptus? Any dissension or division would have quickly throttled the project but to see it done is less than a decade is remarkable. The product was greater than they had imagined. Indeed, it was as the king who opened with the words, “To be read in the whole Church.” With that charge and the king’s rigorous rules, it is amazing that a masterpiece of such magnitude was created.

Conclusion

Of course, no translation is perfect but the main things are the plain things and that is the requirement of repentance and faith, just as Jesus said (Mark 1:15), and even though the translators got a few things wrong, the main body of work is solid. One example is the stigma of slavery, and so the translators inserted the word “servant” where the Greek said it should be “doulos” which is slave. That is a major difference because a servant worked for wages while a slave belonged solely to the master. For us, we are said to be slaves of Christ as the Apostle Paul writes, “he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave” (1st Cor 7:22, NASB), so the NASB seems to be better at translating the Greek and the Hebrew. Other than the mistranslation of servant, most of the King James Bible is solid and what we have is reliable.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.

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