Where did the King James Bible (translated in 1611) come from?

Question

and what makes it different from the Rheims New Testament translated in 1582 and the Douay Old testament in 1609?

Answer 1

The 1611 King James Bible was the first English translation that was not based directly on the Vulgate. Unlike the Douay-Rheims, the King James was based on the Textus Receptus put together by Erasmus, and the Masoretic Hebrew text. There are significant differences between the two Bibles, mostly because the Douay-Rheims represents the Latin text handed down in the Roman Catholic Church, while the King James represents the Byzantine text handed down in the Greek Orthodox Church combined with the Hebrew text handed down in Jewish congregations.

Contrary to some comments, the KJV had nothing to do with the Latin. And the only book of the Bible that contains any Aramaic is the Book of Daniel.

The KJV translators had a problem with the Apocrypha. Most of the books of the Apocrypha are actually additional verses and chapters that were in the Greek and Latin books of the Old Testament, but which were not in the Hebrew. Because the KJV Old Testament was translated from the Hebrew, they put the extra portions found in the Greek in a special section between the two Testaments. These extra books were removed altogether in the 7th edition of the King James, published in 1769.

Answer 2

You are asking for a comprehensive history of the English language translations of the Bible,
which started with John Wycliffe's English translation in the late 1300's.... and moved through several other English translations of the Bible in the 1500's and 1600's... (such as the 1537 Matthew-Tyndale Bible, the 1539 Great Bible, the 1560 Geneva Bible, the 1539 Taverner's Bible, the 1568 Bishops Bible), culminating in the 1611 King James Version of the Bible... which was approximately the tenth English translation of the Bible.

You can review the full details on the History fo the English Language Bible Translations right here:
http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/index.html

Regarding specifically the 1611 King James Bible, consider this:

The King James Bible was translated into English from the original Greek and Hebrew between 1607 to 1610, and published in 1611 in London by authority of the King of England (King James).

If you want an original "King James Version" you need to get a true facsimile reproduction of that original, unaltered, uncharged, first edition printing of 1611. It is available at GREATSITE.COM if you click on "Facsimile Reproductions" and then select "1611 King James Bible" Here is direct-link:
http://www.greatsite.com/facsimile-reproductions/kingjames-1611.html

It is important to understand that in the 1760's the wording and spelling of the original 1611 King James Bible was "updated" by Blaney (1762) and Baskerville (1769)... so "King James Version" Bible printed after the 1760's are not the original 1611 version.

It is also important to understand that in 1885, the influence of textual critics Westcott & Hort contributed greatly to the removal of the 14 Inter-Testamental Books (the "Apocrypha") from the King James Bible, so all "King James Version" Bible sprinted after 1885 have 66 Books instead of 80. King James originally stated that if you printed his Bible WITHOUT the Apocrypha, he would put you in jail for one year and fine you one year of your wages. (Note that, contrary to popular misconception; there is absolutely nothing "Roman Catholic" about The Apocrypha... it was written around 400 B.C. by Jewish Believers, and the Apocrypha was part of every Protestant Bible, every Anglican Bible, every Christian Bible, for almost 2,000 years until its relatively recent removal in 1885).

That is why I say that if you want the original, unmolested, unaltered, uncharged "King James Bible", you need to get one printed in the 1600's... such as the 1611 First Edition, which you can obtain using the webpage links provided above... right here in my answer.

Answer 3

It's just another translation, ordered by King James of England, so it bears his name.

There are a few differences, most notably, a few things added and subtracted from prior versions to make it more agreeable to the king himself.

Answer 4

King James commissioned the translation of it, which is why it is the one so widely used. The committee used the Latin Vulgate to translate it into the vernacular of their time. THis is why we have more modern translations of it--using our vernacular and translating it from the original manuscripts (arabic, Greek, and Hebrew).

Answer 5

Both translated from the original greek (or possibly Latin) and Hebrew...only difference is in the type of English you prefer...but contents are the same.

Answer 6

To the best of my reccolection it was translated fro the latin vulgate which came from Greek and Aramaic

Answer 7

Good queer King James who LOVED his boys and was a great alcoholic! I kid you not! He succeeded Queen Elizabeth I.

He did it because the country was in an uproar over his "lifestyle" and this distracted them.