Bible Fact · Psalm 119:105 — 'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.'
The King James Bible
The Fact
The King James Version (KJV) was commissioned by King James I of England following the Hampton Court Conference of 1604. Fifty-four scholars were appointed (though 47 are known to have worked on it), divided into six companies meeting at Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford. They worked from the Hebrew Masoretic Text, the Greek Textus Receptus, and earlier English translations (including Tyndale's and the Geneva Bible). The translation took seven years (1604–1611) and used a deliberate literary style, shaped partly by public reading aloud in churches. The KJV became the dominant English Bible for over 300 years and profoundly shaped the English language — contributing hundreds of phrases still in common use: 'a drop in the bucket,' 'the skin of my teeth,' 'the writing on the wall,' 'a fly in the ointment,' 'the salt of the earth,' 'at death's door,' 'bite the dust,' 'the blind leading the blind.' Literary critics consistently rank it among the greatest works of English prose ever written.
Context
The KJV was preceded by William Tyndale's translation (1526) — the first printed English New Testament, translated from the Greek. Tyndale was burned at the stake for it. The KJV is built substantially on Tyndale's work — about 80% of his translation remains in the KJV.
Significance
The KJV's beauty and the blood of translators like Tyndale who died to produce the English Bible are part of its legacy. The accessibility of Scripture in your language was bought at a price.
Reflection
William Tyndale's dying prayer as he burned at the stake was: 'Lord! Open the King of England's eyes!' — within a year, the King authorized an English Bible. One prayer, one martyr, one open Bible for millions. Never underestimate prayer.