BIBLE-KING
JAMES VERSION
The Holy
Spirit chose as the language of the New Testament revelation the colloquial
language of everyday people, not an ancient classical idea. The modern insistence upon the supremacy of
the King James Version of 1611 represents a reversal of the action of the Holy
Spirit by insisting that for us the best idiom for the word of God is not the
modern colloquial idiom, but the ancient classical language of Shakespeare.
George Ladd
Arguably, the
King James Version stands as the grandest of the English Bible translations. It
has been dubbed a monument of literary translation, considered a sublime text.
To be sure, for contemporary audiences the sublime prose can be confusing at
times, more obscuring than helpful. Considering that it is nearly four hundred
years old, however, it clearly has staying power. The King James Version also
provides a good anchor for the history of the English Bible. It’s the result of
nearly four centuries of work that led up to it, and has, for another four
centuries, continued to cast its shadow. We can frame our history of the
English Bible around it.
Stephen J. Nichols
The
Bible in English, Tabletalk, October 2008, p. 18-19. Used by Permission of
Ligonier Ministries.