King James Bible

King James Bible Authorized Version

The Bishop's Bible was to be replaced by the Authorized Version and become the official version to be used in the Church of England. However, it was never officially authorized, but it is commonly referred to as the Authorized Version within the United Kingdom. The Authorized Version took some getting used to in other parts of the world, than it did within the United Kingdom. There have also become more and more variations among spellings and punctuation uses with each prospective reproduction.

The Authorized Version was first utilized prominently within the United Kingdom with very little fussy. By 1633 a Scottish edition was printed. The Scots edition included illustrations which raised issues with opponents of the religious policies of the Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud. It took even longer for it to be accepted by the general public. The general public still held to the popular Geneva Bible and large numbers had to be imported from Amsterdam to keep up with the demand. The Geneva Bible continued to be printed until 1644 and the editions carried a false London imprint. The main way that the Geneva Bible was differentiated from the Authorized Version was because the Geneva Bible had notes in the margins, whereas the Authorized Version did not. The Biblical Scholars were the last ones to really accept the King James Version.

By the early 1700s, the Authorized Version became accepted as the only English translation used within Protestant churches. And it became so prevailing within the Roman Catholic Church in England that in 1752 the church issued a translation of the 1610 Douay-Rheims Bible that ended up being much closer in context to the Authorized Version than the original.

Due to only certain publishers being authorized to print the Authorized Version, successive reproductions of the Bible were filled with spelling mistakes and other typographical errors. Over the years there have been on average 1500 mistakes that have become infamous. General standards of spelling and punctuation changed radically over the years since the first edition because every subsequent printer was adding changes to keep up with the language changes.

Over the course of the next century, the Authorized Version became the most accepted translation of the Bible and was used by both scholars and the general public. It took an idea from King James to come into play, and from there it has been a long road in gaining its acceptance among the public. Because of its popularity it has been regarded by some as being on par with the Holy word due to it having been so diligently translated from original texts and challenges are made whenever opponents wish to make revisions.