define: king james bible?

Answer 1

An imperfect translation of a translation of selected books of the original Hebrew writings

Answer 2

Define King James

Answer 3

Sorry to disagree with the previous posters; but ...

There was a religious dissent in England in the late 1500's, that resulted in King James I coming to the throne. To resolve the religious aspect of the dissent, the King organized a meeting of the heads of the various factions. The Non-Conformists wanted to have a unity based on the Bible, and not just superficial agreement in a treaty. To get this, they asked the King to authorize, and pay for, a committee to review the existing "Great Bible" and "Bishops Bible" to see if they could come up with a usable and acceptable popular translation. The King agreed to the Non-Conformists' request, and paid for the committee to do the work, with a few instructions about the translation process. 1) they were to be as faithful as possible to the original languages, 2) no new translation or interpretation was to contradict existing church doctrine, and 3) the translation was to be in the vox populii, the language of the people, i.e. not French, Latin, or German (there were other stipulations too, but those were the Biggies).

When they came back with their translation to the King in 1611, their dedication and explanation of their work was addressed to King James, and thus it took on His name.

There was some great work done, expecially in the Old Testament, from the original Hebrew. The work in the New Testament was less stellar, because it depended on the work of Errasmus several centuries earlier. Errasmus had taken the Latin Vulgate, and translated it (with all of it's errors) back into Greek, and even supplied portions himself that were missing from his Greek sources and from the Latin Vulgate. Errasmus had also used the Byzintine Greek texts with the Vulgate, which is where the Vulgate came from in the first place.

Over all, considering what they had to work with, the KJV translators did a great job, and the known errors in their work have been revised several times since 1611.

I recommend the book "The Bible in Translation: Ancient and English Versions" by Bruce Manning Metzger as a good resource if you care to read more. The ISBN is 0801022827, and you can get a copy for less than $15.00 from most book dealers and websites.

Answer 4

A version of the Bible that King James had made.

Answer 5

King James of England authorized a translation that was published in 1611.

Thus, the King James Bible or the King James Version (KJV).

It is not used in many churches nowadays because of its archaic language but it is still considered by many as the most accurate translation and it is almost universally acknowledged as a work of beauty and poetry.

it is my favorite!

god bless

Answer 6

OK. You could write a book to answer this question. Forgive the mistakes that I'll probably make, but here it goes.

The King James of France and England, which during coronation vows mant things but one vow is keeper of the faith. In the original printing of the KJB in the front was a letter to the reader from the translators. This letter documents many things. This letter defines the King James Bible.

Funny how many people are not aware of this letter.

Answer 7

In order to appease a religious sect that was causing a lot of problems in the 1600s, King James of England mandated that the Bible be translated from the Latin to the plain English used by the common folk. It's in Old English (think Shakespeare).

Answer 8

The term refers to the "Authorized Version" of 1611, and its subsequent editions. King James did not translate it. He merely approved the translation, from the Greek manuscript known as the "Textus Receptus".

The AV was not the first English Bible, having been preceded by the Wycliff, Taverner, Geneva and Bishop's Bibles, among others.

Answer 9

It is the Bible that King James organized.

Answer 10

The King James Version was a Bible translation made for King James in 1611. It is a good translation, but it is in old English and they didn't have all the manuscripts that we have now. Some other good translations are the NASB and the NKJV. www.equip.org

Answer 11

King James bible, the oldest english written bible. More than 50 scholars and preist translated this book from the hebrw language to english. Than modern day people revised and re wrote it. It is as good as it gets.