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Translators of the King James Bible
Like all earlier English Bibles,
it was entitled, the Holy Bible!
(not the King James Version)
The Old Testament
The Old Testament was translated from the MASORETIC
HEBREW TEXT. This was the "traditional" text preserved by
the nation of Israel and particularly the Masorite Jews from
500 to 1,000 AD.
The Masoretic Text used by the King James translators was the
1st and 2nd editions of Daniel Bomberg. They came out in
1516-17 AD and 1524-1525 AD respectively.
The Jews standardized the Old Testament Hebrew text by
putting in the vowel pointing. Original Hebrew has no vowels
only consonants. The Jews had a strict set of rules for making
copies of God's word. We list them briefly as follows:
1. Parchment must be of clean animals only and prepared only by a Jew.
2. Each column was between 48 to 60 lines and underlined first.
3. Special recipe for the ink and only black.
4. No word or letter was to be written from memory; the scribe must
have an authentic copy before him and must read and pronounce each
word before writing it.
5. He must reverently wipe his pen each time before writing the word "God"
and he must wash his whole body before writing the word "Jehovah".
6. There were strict rules on the forms of the letters, spaces, words and
sections, use of pens, and color of parchment.
7. One mistake on a sheet and the sheet was thrown out; three mistakes in
any manuscript and the entire manuscript was thrown out; revision of a
scroll must be made within 30 days or it was considered worthless.
8. Every word and letter was counted and if not correct
the manuscript was destroyed at once.
In January, 1604 King James commissioned a Bible to replace the Bishops’ Bible.
By June of the same year the translators had been chosen.
The King was for appointing fifty-four learned men to this great
and good work; but the number actually employed upon it, in the
first instance, was forty-seven.
Seventeen of the translators were to work at Westminster,
fifteen at Cambridge, and as many at Oxford.
Those who met at each place were divided
into two companies; so that there were, in all,
six distinct companies of translators.
Each individual translator wrote down his own suggestions
(chapter by chapter) for the books assigned to his committee.
Translators met once each week to share their personal work
with their committee. Each group molded one common
translation by merging these individual translations.
Unlike any English Bible translation, either before or since, the translation
was opened to all Christians. Men “throughout the kingdom,” from pastors,
to deans, to professors, to learned men, to Bishops, to “any” spiritual
plowmen who “have taken pains” in their private studies of the scriptures,
were asked to study the translation and “send such their observations... so that
our said intended translation may have the help and furtherance of all...”. “Any
... man in the land” could review the work.
To accomplish this review, each company made and passed
about copies of its work. Manuscripts were prepared and sent
out for “the scrutiny of men throughout the kingdom.”
This participation of all “men within this our kingdom” from “far and wide for
general scrutiny” is unique. The KJV is the only translation to be screened
before its publication by the body of Christ, not just by translators.
They received a set of rules
for their direction.
1. The ordinary Bible, read in the church, commonly called the Bishops’ Bible,
to be followed, and as little altered as the original will permit.
2. The anmes of the prophets and the holy writers, with the other names in the
text, to be retained, as near as may be, according as they are vulgarly used.
3. The old ecclesiastical words to be kept; as the word church, not to be
translated congregation, etc.
4. When any word hath divers significations, that to be kept which has been
most commonly used by the most eminent fathers, being agreeable to the
propriety of the place, and the analogy of the faith.
5. The division of the chapters to be altered, either
not at all, or as little as may be, if necessity so require.
They received a set of rules
for their direction.
6. No marginal notes at all to be affixed, but only for the explanation of
the Hebrew or Greek words, which cannot, without some
circumlocution, so briefly and fitly be expressed in the text.
7. Such quotations of places to be marginally set down,
as shall serve fit references of one scripture to another.
8. Every particular man of each company to take the same chapter or
chapters; and having translated or amended them severallyby
himself, where he things good, all to meet together, to confer what
they have done, and agree for their part what shall stand.
Thus in each company, according to the number of
members, there would be from seven to ten distinct and
carefully labored revisions, the whole to be compared,
and digested into one copy of the portion of the Bible
assigned to each particular company.
They received a set of rules
for their direction.
9. As any one company hath dispatched any one book in this
manner, they shall send it to the rest to be considered of seriously
and judiciously: for his Majesty is very careful in this point.
10. If any company, upon the review of the book so sent, shall doubt or differ
upon any places, and therewithal to send their reasons; to which if they
consent not, the difference to be compounded at the general metting, which is
to be the chief persons of each company, at the end of the work.
11. When any place of special obscurity is doubted of, letters to be
directly by authority to send to any learned in the land for his
judgment in such a place.
12. Letters to be sent from every bishop to the rest of the clergy, admonishing
them of this translation in hand, and to move and charge as many as being
skillful in the tongues, have taken pains in that kind, to send their particular
observations to the company, either at Westminster, Cambridge or Oxford,
according as it was directed befroe the King’s letter to the archbishop.
They received a set of rules
for their direction.
13. The directors in each company to be deans of westminister and Chester,
and the king’s professors in Hebrew and Greek in the two universities.
14. These translations to be used when they agree better with the text than the
Bishops’ Bible, viz. Tyndale’s; Coverdale’s; Matthew’s (by Tyndale and John
Rogers); Whitchurch (Cranmers’); Geneva.
When the Translators met to compare what they had done, each of them held in
his hand a Bible in some language. If any thing struck any one as requiring
alteration, he spoke; otherwise the reaqing went on.
To the careful observance of these injunctions, is
to be ascribed much of the excellence of the
completed translation.
The printing of the English Bible has proved to be by far
the mightiest barrier ever reared to repel the advance of
Popery, and to damage all the resources of the Papacy.
Originally intended for the five or six millions who dwelt
within the narrow limits of the British Islands, it at once formed
and fixed their language, till then unsettled; and has since gone
with that language to the isles and shores of every sea.
And now, during the lapse of almost two and a half centuries, it has
gladdened the hearts, and still gladdens the hearts of millions upon
millions, not only in Great Britain, but throughout North America
and the Indies, in portions of Africa, and in Australia.
At the present day, the English is probably the vernacular tongue of more
millions than of any other one language under heaven; and the English Bible
has brought and still brings home the knowledge of God's revealed truth to a
myriad more of minds than ever received it through the original tongues.
The very names of these men are now hardly known to more than a few
persons; yet, in the providence of God, the fruits of their labors have spread
to far distant climes; have laid broad and deep the foundations of mighty
empires; have afforded to multitudes strength to endure adversity, and grace
to resist the temptations of prosperity; and only the revelations of the
judgment-day can disclose how many millions and millions, through the
instrumentality of their labors, have been made wise unto salvation.
*Report of the Committee on Versions, made to
the Board of Managers of the American Bible
Society, and adopted May Ist, 1851.
(how they have changed their tune these days!)
Under the “bright” light which
shone on the English Bible
during the reign of Queen
Elizabeth I (1558-1603), the
translators, along with all of
England, could easily study the
English Bible.
When given a Bible upon her entry
into London for her coronation,
“Elizabeth presses it on her lips, and then
laying it against her heart...she gratefully
thanks the city for so precious a gift.”
Elizabeth’s “1599 Injunctions”
stated that the English Bible was
alive and pastors were told:
“They shall discourage no man
from reading of any part of the
Bible...in English, but shall rather
exhort every person to read the
same with great humility and
reverence, as the very lively word of
God, and the especial food of man’s
soul, which all Christian persons
are bound to embrace, believe, and
follow, if they look to be saved...”
The light of the English Bible exposed what Elizabeth I called, “the darkness and
filth of popery” and the “Babylonical Beast of Rome.”
Such a background gave the KJV translators both a
fear of heresy and a love and knowledge of the truth.
The Men Themselves
There was a time before our time,
It will not come again,
When the best ships… were wooden ships
But… men were iron men!
These men knew first hand that Rome and its rulers could tolerate the
Bible bound “in the letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew,” the classical
languages which Pilate used (Luke 23:38, John 19:19).
But they also knew that Romish rulers would burn, book-by-book and
word-by word, an English Bible by which the Holy Ghost could speak
directly to a man, with no mediator except Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5).
The character of the KJV translators can be seen
by the fruit of their labors!
The King James Bible and its nearly 400 years of spiritual fruit, show forth
what the translators bore of the unquenched Spirit’s fruit (Galatians 5:22).
These translators were the top achievers in England at that time,
academically, and it appears, spiritually as well.
They had risen to positions as college Presidents or deans, heads of schools
or departments of Greek or Hebrew language.
They were not only preachers, pastors, doctors, scholars, and linguists, but
they had surpassed, thousands of men with similar training, during a time
when speaking Greek, Latin, Hebrew and foreign languages was common for
university students.
Their exceptional God-given abilities, coupled with diligence and an abiding
walk with the Lord, set them at the pinnacle of an academic environment
where school children were educated at a level above that of many of today’s
university students.
I. The First Westminister Company
These men translated the historical books, beginning with
Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
Lancelot Andrews
Lancelot spent his vacations each year
learning a new language, for a total of fifteen
languages. This skill caused Thomas Fuller,
church historian in the 1800s, to suggest that
Andrews could have been “Interpreter
General” at the confusion of tongues at Babel.
As a child he “studied so hard when others
played that if his parents and masters had not
forced him to play with them,” he would not
have played at all.
He spent 5 hours a day in
prayer and devotion!
He was chaplain to Queen Elizabeth
and called the “star of preachers.”
I. The First Westminister Company
These men translated the historical books, beginning with
Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
John Overall
Though raised as an orphan, Overall became such a
Latin scholar it troubled him to speak English.
Yet as a pastor, responding to a soul-sick church
member, who wondered if Christ died for him, Overall
preached a simple sermon which exposed the error of
Calvinism. He said…
“Christ died for all men sufficiently, for the believer only
effectually, as the sun that shineth sufficiently to give light to
all, though it doth it effectually only to them that open their
eyes; as water that is sufficient to quench all thirsty, but doth
it only to them that drink it... So Christ, the sum of
righteousness, the water of life...”
Overall’s burden for the souls of men ushered him to the side of Father Henry
Garnet, just as this murderer was about to be hanged for his part in the Gunpowder
Plot. Overall begged him to receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and express “a true and
lively faith to God-ward.” Sadly, Garnet told him not to bother him.
I. The First Westminister Company
These men translated the historical books, beginning with
Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
Hadrian Saravia
This translator received a Doctor of
Divinity at Oxford, where his skill in
Hebrew was unsurpassed.
He was sent by Queen Elizabeth as a
missionary to the islands of Guernsey and
Jersey. “The preaching of God’s word was
planted there” through his efforts.
He worked as a professor at the university in
Leyden, Holland and as a pastor for a French
church in that city. He also published papers
“against the Jesuit” and Calvinist.
Hadrian Saravia wrote & published materials about
“the savages of America,”
I. The First Westminister Company
These men translated the historical books, beginning with
Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
Dr. Richard Clarke
Dr. Clarke is spoken of as a Fellow of
Christ's College, Cambridge; and as a very
learned clergyman and eminent preacher.
He was Vicar of Minster and Monkton in
Thanet, and one of the six preachers of the
cathedral church in Canterbury.
He died in 1634. Three years after his death, a folio
volume of his learned sermons was published.
I. The First Westminister Company
These men translated the historical books, beginning with
Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
Dr. John Laifield
Dr Laifield worked toward the conversion of
the ‘savages’ of America while traveling as
chaplain on an expedition across the Atlantic
ocean.
He described America’s inhabitants as
“naked,” except for “chains and bracelets”
and jewelry for piercing their “nostrils or
lips” and “boring of their lips and ears.”
His extensive knowledge of architecture was
helpful in translation work on the Old
Testament temple and tabernacle
Of him it is said, "that being skilled in architecture, his judgment was much
relied on for the fabric of the tabernacle and temple."
I. The First Westminister Company
These men translated the historical books, beginning with
Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
Dr. Robert Tighe
He was educated at Oxford and
Cambridge and has been called a
“profound linguist.”
I. The First Westminister Company
These men translated the historical books, beginning with
Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
Francis Burleigh
Mr. Burleigh, or Burghley was made Vicar of
Bishop's Stortford in 1590, which benefice he
held at the time of his appointment to the
important service of this Bible translation.
I. The First Westminister Company
These men translated the historical books, beginning with
Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
Geoffry King
He was Professor of Hebrew at
King’s College at Cambridge.
It is a fair token of his fitness to take part
in this translation-work, that he
succeeded Mr. Spaulding, another of the
Translators, as Religius Professor of
Hebrew in that University.
Men were not appointed in those days to
such duties of instruction, with the
expectation that they would qualify
themselves after their induction into office.
I. The First Westminister Company
These men translated the historical books, beginning with
Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
Richard Thompson
This “Philologer” mastered root words
in many languages and thereby extended
his fame to France, Italy and Germany.
He was called "the grand propagator of
Arminianism."
I. The First Westminister Company
These men translated the historical books, beginning with
Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
Dr. William Bedwell
This “eminent Oriental Scholar” published an
edition of the gospel of John in Arabic and Latin.
He wrote a three-volume Arabic lexicon and a
Persian dictionary.
Unlike the higher critics, Bedwell believed the
Bible was the word of God.
He was also
discerning enough to identify the secular and
pagan elements in these neighboring languages.
He published a book entitled A Discovery of the
Impostures of (Mohammed) and the Koran.
His epitaph mentions that he was 'for the Eastern
tongues, as learned a man as most lived in these
modern times.'"
King James was
ugly, vulgar,
nervous & foulmouthed.
The translators
were worldly,
sensuous and
self-serving.
Now, compare all of what you
just read to the dark and vile
propaganda printed by Rupert
Murdoch’s Harper Collins
Publishers (owner of Zondervan),
the publisher of the NIV and
TNIV, in a book named God’s
Secretaries.
The Greek New Testament has
been concocted by illiterate halfstarved visionaries in some dark
corner of a Graeco-Syrian slum.
The latter translators of today
have made correct and more clear
the corrupt manuscripts that the
King James followed.
“It is an appalling fact
that the manner of speech
which approaches must
nearly to the language of
these Jaobean divines
(KJV translators) comes
from the mouths of
murderous
fundamentalists.”
He admits,
whether it is
true or not
matters less
than the
atmosphere.
He calls those
who disagree
with him
“extremists”
and “extreme
schismatics
from the outer
reaches of
Anabaptist
lunacy.”
…Stand thou still
a while, that I
may shew thee
the word of God.
The End of part I