400 Years of King James -- FPC sermon excerpt

“Thou shalt commit adultery.”

That’s what the King James Version of the Bible said, when its 1631 edition hit the bookstores. Adultery, instead of being forbidden, was suddenly required.

It was a typo, of course. The printers were heavily fined, a correction was made, and the 1631 edition became known as The Wicked Bible.

But this was not the only mistake in the King James Version, which was published for the first time on May 2, 1611, and is now celebrating its 400^th birthday. The 1612 version says that “Printers have persecuted me without cause.”

Oh, those bad, bad printers.

The word “printers” was a misprint, of course — Psalm 119 should have complained about “princes” (v. 161).

A few years later, printers caused problems again. In 1795, the King James Version had Jesus say, “Let the children first be killed” (Mark 7:27). What he really asked was that the children first be “filled” — that is, fed.

Just six years later, the “murmurers” of Jude 16 became “murderers.” “These are murderers, complainers, walking after their own lusts,” said Jude. This edition quickly became known as The Murderers’ Bible.

The Wicked Bible and The Murderers’ Bible. Both are slightly botched editions of the King James Version of the Bible, the most influential Scripture translation of all time. The publication of this version was huge, and despite printing errors it has had an incredible impact on Christian faith and English literature for the past four centuries. When most of us conjure up the 23^rd psalm, we hear the words, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul” (vv. 1-3).

Nothing else will do. I’ve been reading this version at funerals for 25 years. For many of us, Psalm 23 simply has to be in the King James Version, the KJV. If there was a Scripture verse on a Mother’s Day card this morning, I bet it was the KJV.

As poetic and comforting as this version is, it was born in a time of conflict. When King James took the throne of England in 1603, the country was embroiled in theological controversy. The establishment Anglicans were feuding with a group of reformers called the Puritans, and King James made the decision to side with the Anglicans — the group that posed the least threat to his authority. But he was a shrewd politician, and knew that he needed to extend an olive branch to the Puritans. He agreed to commission a new translation of the Bible, one that took seriously the original Greek and Hebrew texts. The result was the Bible that we now call the KJV.

So what does it mean for us to take the Bible seriously, not only as a political and cultural force, but as the primary source of God’s word to us? This 400^th birthday of the KJV is an opportunity to reflect on the power of the word of God — a word that has sidestepped conflicts between Anglicans and Puritans, survived printing errors in numerous editions, and retained its ability to bring a message from God straight into our hearts and minds today.

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” asks the KJV of Psalm 119, verse 9. “By taking heed thereto according to thy word.”

Wherewithal … taking heed … thereto … this is the King’s English, certainly not the language we speak today. But the raw power of this verse punches through such flowery expressions, reminding us to keep our way pure by living according to the word of God.