UNDERSTANDING THE KING JAMES BIBLE
A paper answering the question: Is the King James Bible too difficult to understand?
1. THE KING JAMES VERSION OF THE BIBLE DOES HAVE SOME ANTIQUATED WORDS AND FORMS OF SPEECH, BUT THERE ARE NOT MANY OF THESE.
The Trinitarian Bible Society publishes a list of 618 antiquated words. It is called: Bible Word List. That is not very many, and most of them can be understood by considering the context. There are only about 300 antiquated words in the KJV that are so difficult that you really need a dictionary to understand them.
2. THE OVERALL READING LEVEL OF THE KJV IS NOT VERY HIGH.
The KJV is written on an 8th to 10th grade level. This has been proven from computer analysis made by Dr. Donald Waite. He ran several books of the KJV through the Right Writer program and found that Genesis 1, Exodus 1, and Romans 8 are on the 8th grade level; Romans 1 and Jude are on the 10th grade level; and Romans 3:1-23 is on the 6th grade level.
In the book: The Art of Plain Talk (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1946), Dr. Rudolf Flesch analyzed the reading level of various documents and rated them on a scale from Very Easy to Very Difficult. He testified, "The best example of very easy prose (about 20 affixes per 200 words) is the King James Version of the Bible..." Dr. Flesch became famous with the publication of his book: Why Johnny Can't Read.
3. THE KJV HAS A SMALL VOCABULARY, USING SIMPLE WORDS THROUGHOUT.
"While Shakespeare used a vocabulary of roughly 37,000 English words, the King James Bible used only 8,000" (John Wesley Sawyer, The Newe Testament by William Tindale, p. 10, quoting BBC TV, "The Story of English," copyright 1986).
4. THE KJV USES SIMPLE WORDS; MOST ARE ONLY ONE OR TWO SYLLABLES--CONSIDER PSALM 23:
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
Of the 119 words in this Psalm, only 24 are more than two syllables; 19 of those 24 words are two syllables and only 5 are three syllables. This Psalm illustrates why the King James Bible is called "peerless among literary masterpieces," "unquestionably the most beautiful book in the world," "the noblest monument of English prose," "incomparably the best English translation in its rhythm," "the touchstone of affective power," "matchless in its literary qualities among all English translations," "the supremely literary English translation," "the touchstone of literary excellence," "stylistically the greatest English Bible translation ever produced." These quotes from various men are from the book: The Word of God in English by Leland Ryken (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2002, pp. 270, 267, 258, 259, 206, 188, 163, 62, 51).
5. ACCURACY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN SIMPLICITY IN A BIBLE VERSION.
The most important thing in a Bible translation is not simple language but faithfulness to the original. Dr. Waite made the following excellent comment in a recent edition of his newsletter:
"The Bible is not a first grade primer. It is God's book. It is a book that must be diligently read. It is only by 'searching the Scriptures' that we find what pertains to life and death. It tells of creation, of the mighty universe, of the future or the past, of the Mighty God and His wonders, of the Holy Spirit's ministry among Christians, of the Son of God's great sacrifice for sin, of home in Heaven for the believer, and of a fiery hell for the unsaved. How dare we assume that His Word can be capsulated in a comic book [or a version that reads 'like the morning newspaper']."
Also consider this statement by Leland Ryken, a professor of English at Wheaton College:
"An English Bible translation should strive for maximum readability only within the parameters of accurately expressing what the original actually says, including the difficulty inherent in the original text. The crucial question that should govern translation is what the original authors actually wrote, not our speculations over how they would express themselves today or how we would express the content of the Bible. The fact that the New Testament was written in koine Greek should not lead translators to translate the Bible in a uniformly colloquial style. Finally, a good translation does not attempt to make the Bible simpler than it was for the original audience" (Leland Ryken, The Word of God in English, pp. 100, 101).
6. PREVIOUS GENERATIONS EDUCATED THE PEOPLE UP TO THE BIBLE, AND THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD DO TODAY.
"Instead of lowering the Bible to a lowest common denominator, why should we not educate people to rise to the level required to experience the Bible in its full richness and exaltation? Instead of expecting the least from Bible readers, we should expect the most from them. The greatness of the Bible requires the best, not the least. ... The most difficult of modern English translations -- the King James -- is used most by segments of our society that are relatively uneducated as defined by formal education. ..research has shown repeatedly that people are capable of rising to surprising and even amazing abilities to read and master a subject that is important to them. ... Previous generations did not find the King James Bible, with its theological heaviness, beyond their comprehension. Nor do readers and congregations who continue to use the King James translation find it incomprehensible. Neither of my parents finished grade school, and they learned to understand the King James Bible from their reading of it and the preaching they heard based on it. We do not need to assume a theologically inept readership for the Bible. Furthermore, if modern readers are less adept at theology than they can and should be, it is the task of the church to educate them, not to give them Bible translations that will permanently deprive them of the theological content that is really present in the Bible." (Leland Ryken, The Word of God in English, pp. 107, 109)
7. THERE ARE MANY TOOLS AVAILABLE TO HELP UNDERSTAND THE KJV?
Following are a few of these: The Bible Word List from the Trinitarian Bible Society.
The Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity.
The Defined King James Bible available from Bible for Today, 800 Park Ave., Collingswood, NJ
The Concise King James Bible Dictionary, and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance available from Bible Truth Publishers (bibletruthpublishers.com).
[This paper on understanding the Bible is originally from FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST INFORMATION SERVICE, and forwarded by R. Gorgas. It is not copyrighted, but credits are given. One should note also that some words in the Bible clarify and give special emphasis, and might be missed in various new Versions. Thee and thou are singular, and ye and your are plural. The eth on the end of a word means plural or continuing. This is important in understanding God's Word to a people or to an individual. Words repeated are for emphasis, and should not be omitted, and the word: beseech ought to be appreciated as urgently important. - RLD 06/12
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ADDENDUM: The use of a few other Bible versions for cross-reference can be helpful, such as the JND New Translation (not a Version) for proper intent; but the KJV is considered by many Bible teachers to be best for general study and group use. The KJV today in good quality editions including marginal corrections, is a reliable rendering, and that is due to the fact that it has stood the purifying test of time ---new versions have not. That is to say that all Bible versions have errors, but the printings of the KJV have held to the basic wording from much earlier approved printing, and all needed changes are made in the margins and commentaries and not textual changes (because the wordings are substantially sound). When words get changed the meaning, emphasis, and thoughts of God are diminished. Some teachers find the Old Scofield Edition of the KJV is the most reliable and helpful Bible for study. Look up and seek God's mind always! -RLD
