King James and Me

Did you know the King James Version of the Bible was first published 400 years ago? Happy birthday, KJV!

King James and I go back a long way. Growing up, the KJV was always used in our church and Sunday school. (There wasn’t much choice back then.) As I mentioned in an earlier blog, during my senior year of high school I read the Bible front to back, kind of as a project. Reading five chapters a night, it took about nine months. I understood very little of what I read, however, and when finished I stuck the Bible back on a shelf and wondered what to read next.

Then in 1978 I started attending a church where the Bible was taught in a practical, relevant way for everyday life, using a modern translation – the New American Standard. For me it was almost like dying and going to heaven. God, I realized, doesn’t speak in only 17^th century Elizabethan English. When I prayed, I didn’t need to “beseech” Him, and I needn’t refer to the Lord as “Thou.” He was perfectly okay with “You.”

That’s not to knock the KJV. Some passages in the oft-called “Authorized translation" still resonate best, like Psalm 23. Its wondrous, poetic composition -- “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside still waters…” -- still gives me a sense of peace and comfort.

But the original manuscripts that merged to make up our Bible were written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, common languages to that area at that time. God desired to give His Word to everyone, not just to professional theologians and clerics.

I appreciate tradition and literary form. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, we wouldn’t want to rewrite, “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo,” to read “Hey…Romeo! Where you at?” But even though I once majored in English, I dislike reading Shakespeare because I don’t understand half of what he wrote.

So I’m thankful for the KJV (which by the way has undergone numerous, significant revisions itself over the years). But even more grateful we’re no longer confined to reading verbiage, so familiar to people in the early 1600s, that presents considerable consternation for many of us in the early 21^st century.

Its progeny – like the New American Standard, the New International, New Living Translation, Revised Standard, even the Amplified – are continuing to carry out the mission: Revealing to us who God is, helping us understand how we are designed, and telling what He expects of us.

Changing Words in God's Unchanging Word

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced a new Bible translation, supposedly more accurate, accessible and poetic, will be released next week. I’m not Catholic, but it’s probably overdue.

This “breaking news” reminded me of 1978, when I first encountered a modern Bible translation – the New American Standard. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

Like most churchgoers growing up in the ‘50s and ‘60s, I knew only the King James Version (the “Authorized version,” according to some). Out of curiosity, as a senior in high school I read the KJV, front to back. I plowed through it five chapters a night; it took about nine months. When I finished, it went back to my bookshelf as I wondered, “What should I read next?”

Frankly, although I technically had read every word of the Bible, I understood very little. Already on the path toward become a professional writer, I often got lost among “begats,” “whosoevers,” “quickens” and other quaint words and phrases of the 16^th century. Nobody uses “quicken” for its archaic meaning – “to make alive.” In fact, today Quicken is the name of financial software.

When I first read the NASB (and later, versions like the New International, English Standard, Revised Standard, New King James, New Living Translation, even The Message), I realized God speaks in our language, using vocabulary we can grasp. The Scriptures are deep and complex enough, without antiquated terms becoming an impediment.

The Bible, speaking of itself in Hebrews 4:12, says the “Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword.” To insist on an outdated translation for the sake of “tradition,” ignoring language is dynamic and words change – in style and meaning – over time, is to maintain God’s Word is dead and inert.

Originally, the Scriptures were written in Hebrew, common Greek and Aramaic, languages of that time. God wants everyone to be able to read and understand His eternal truth. His Word never changes, but words of every age and culture do change.

So instead of a “cereal offering,” ardent Catholics now will read about “grain offerings.” Makes sense to me – none of my Bibles ever made reference to Cheerios or Wheaties. Another word reportedly deleted in the revised Catholic Bible is “booty,” which meant to the spoils of war – but today can have a much different connotation.

The good news for Catholics, it would seem, is when they read in the Bible about “the call of God,” it clearly won’t be a “booty call.”

Irrelevant . . . or Irreplaceable?

I initially read through the Bible my senior year in high school. The previous summer I had heard someone teach directly from the Scriptures for the first time. Intrigued, I decided to read the Bible, five chapters a night. That took about nine months.

Although I read it cover to cover, I didn’t understand much in between. The “begats,” "thous, “whosoevers,” “shalts” and “sayeths” of the King James Version were bothersome. So after the last verse in Revelation, I placed the black, cloth-covered Bible on a bookshelf, where it remained.

In 1978 I encountered the New American Standard version, astounded to discover the Scriptures translated into modern, easy-to-understand language. I also learned the Bible was not some ancient, obscure manual for preachers with years of specialized seminary training, but a practical guide for everyone.

Over the years since, I have read through the Bible more than a dozen times. Some say it’s archaic and irrelevant. A friend once told me, “The Bible’s a good primer, but then you move on to something more sophisticated.” (The work of some great philosopher or thinker, I suppose.) The Scriptures respond to that: “The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25).

I have found the Bible an incomparable source of instruction for all areas of life – work, marriage and family life, finances, morals, relationships – even sports. Like peeling on onion, removing one layer to reveal another, the Bible possesses limitless depth. Every time I read it, I find insights and truth I didn’t see before.

Without question, we can gain wisdom as well from holy books of other religions, including the Torah, the Koran, even the Tao Te Ching. That’s because all truth is God’s truth. But the Bible is the “owner’s manual,” God’s revelation of how He designed us, His plan for us, and how to truly find joy and fulfillment in this life as we anticipate the next.

The apostle Paul assured us, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). Through it we realize Jesus’ promise to His followers: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).