A History of the Authorized Version (1611)

by Mom, 2008

Upon assuming the English crown in 1603, James I called the Hampton Court Conference to address "things pretended to be amiss in the church." From this conference came a request that His Majesty authorize a new translation of the Scriptures "for reducing of diversities of Bibles now extant in the English tongue." James I was more than happy to comply, for he despised the study notes in the popular Geneva translation.

Accordingly, James I appointed a committee of the best scholars and linguists of the day to work on the new translation. The 47-man committee was instructed to consider the work of previous English translators as well as the original Hebrew and Greek texts. King James requested the committee to consult with other learned men about any doubtful text, and he insisted that the new translation have no marginal notes.

The committee divided into six groups, each working on a different section of the Bible. The preliminary translation took four years. Then a sub-committee of twelve spent nine months on further review and translation. The completed Bible was published n 1611.

The Authorized Version, or King James Version as we call it today, remains the most popular and significant translation of the Scriptures in English. Westcott and Hort, members of a committee that produced a modern English text, said of the King James Version, "From the middle of the seventeenth century, the King's Bible has been the acknowledged Bible of the English-speaking nations throughout the world simply because it is the best." The King James Version quickly surpassed the popular Geneva Bible, whose last edition was published in 1644. Ironically, the study notes to the Geneva Bible that so offended James I continued to be published for many years, attached to the Authorized Version text.