The King James Version

The year 1611 saw the publication of the most popular English Bible ever, the Authorized Version, better known as the King James Version (named for the king of England, James I).

James did not like the Geneva Bible, the most popular Bible among the people, and he saw that England’s “official” Bible, the Bishops’ Bible, was never going to be popular.

He appointed fifty-four scholars to revise the Bishops’ Bible, paying attention to the Greek and Hebrew originals.

The team was free to use words and phrases from other translations, including William Tyndale’s.

The work went on from 1607 (the year the English settled Jamestown, Virginia) until 1611. It carried a dedication “to the most high and mighty Prince James by the Grace of God.”

It did not become immediately popular, and the Pilgrims who sailed to American in 1620 were readers of the Geneva Bible, not the new King James Version.

But in time the “KJV” became the Bible in English, the one that generations of Americans and English knew and loved.

Its phrases have entered the language permanently, just as phrases from Shakespeare, who lived during the same time.

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Healing Time

J. Stephen Lang

1868: On this date a political leader who grew up poor, had no formal education and was illiterate until his wife taught him to read and write, issued Proclamation 179 “granting full pardon and amnesty for the offense of treason against the United States during the late Civil War.”

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

A Personal Promise

Charles Stanley

Jesus came to earth with the view of offering you salvation. He wanted you to have a restored relationship with the Father, a relationship that was so close, so intimate, that you would have your special place in the Father’s house (John 14:1–4).

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

The Unexpected Savior

John MacArthur

Scripture records that when John the Baptist began his ministry, “The people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not” (Luke 3:15).

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Reflections on the Incarnation and Freedom of God

Philip Yancey

Think of the condescension involved: the incarnation, which sliced history into two parts had more animal than human witnesses. Think, too, of the risk. In the incarnation, God spanned the vast chasm of fear that had distanced him from his human creation.

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

The Blessing of the Presence of Jesus

Charles Spurgeon

He is as certainly with us now as He was with the disciples at the lake when they saw coals of fire, fish on the coals, and bread (John 21:9). Not physically, but still in real truth, Jesus is with us!