Category Archives: Bibliology

Information on the KJV

We will start off Bible Study 2013 with some basic facts about the Bible, its organization and statistical data. According to Statistics Brain, the following stats about the Scripture are supplied:

  • There are over 6 billion bibles printed today.Spine of a Bible
  • There are 788,258 words in the Bible. As a side note, my Accordance bible software lists 790,868 words in the KJV.
  • There are 31,102 verses (31,218 in Accordance) in the Bible.
  • There are 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament, and 27 in the New Testament). An easy way to remember this statistic is to count the number of letters in old and testament as well as in new and testament. Old equals 3, testament equals 9 and if you join those side by side you get 39 which is the number of books in the Old Testament. If you do the same with New Testament, you get the same 3 and 9, but this time multiply the two numbers for a sum of 27, which is the number of New Testament books.
  • The shortest chapter is Psalms 117 and the longest is Psalms 119.
  • The total chapters are 1,189.

Desiderius Erasmus produced one of the first Greek New Testaments in the modern era (1516) and titled it Novum Instrumentum omen, diligent ab Erasmo Roterodamo recognitum & emendatum… With a clever play on words, Erasmus decided to name his Greek New Testament the New Instrument, citing that a written testament is called an instrument. His view was not popular, and was later changed back to New Testament.1 He was a very controversial Dutch scholar, and priest during his day. He decided to use slightly differing words in his translation from the Greek into Latin, the common spoke tongue of the day. For instance, St. John’s gospel begins ‘In principio erat verbum…‘ in the Vulgate, but Erasmus chose to use ‘In principio erat sermo…‘ in his translation. Both mean word, and are translated from the Greek logos, but verbum is a grammatical entity while sermo is that entity being spoken.2  While this might seem trivial to us now, it held major theological connotations to theological concepts in Erasmus’s day.

Martin Luther, a German priest, first broke completely with the Catholic church in 1520. Having used Erasmus’s Novum Instrumentum, he determined to teach his doctrine of justification by faith alone.  In 1521 he was excommunicated and went into hiding in Wartburg Castle near Eisenach in Thuringia. There he was said to have translated the New Testament into modern German.3

The first “Authorized or King James” version of the bible was printed by Christopher Barker who had an exclusive patent to print it given by Queen Elizabeth. This first edition was printed in 1611. In 1623 monopolies were abolished in England, which eventually opened up the printing of the KJV to others, most notably Oxford and Cambridge. Cambridge took advantage of this first in 1628 printing its first New Testament. The first Oxford Bible was printed in Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford in 1675.4

Robert (Stevens) Stefanus and Theodore Beza separately revised Erasmus’s original Greek text and Beza published his edition in 1565. A later edition of Beza’s work, the 1598 edition as well as the 1550 and 1551 editions of Stephanus’s were used by the editors of the 1611 Authorized or King James Version. Later, in 1624, the Elzevir brothers published their revision of the Greek text at Leyden and in his preface to the 1637 edition said “Textum ergo babes, nunc ab omnibus receptum…” meaning the text received by all denominations, branches, peoples, languages, etc… thus the received  text or Textus Receptus was coined.5

Thus a brief introduction to the birth of the King James Version of the Bible. This version has been the most popular and most widely read and memorized version of the Holy Scriptures, and is the version I will be quoting from during the remainder of the Bible study.

Understanding Gods WordOur method of interpreting the Bible is defined by Bernard, in Understanding God’s Word: An Apostolic Aproach to Interpretting The Bible, and  as such, is quoted here: “… to identify and examine their presuppositions and to approach the Bible with an attitude of learning.”6  This is the way I will be approaching our Bible study. In scholarly circles, this method is known as the hermeneutical spiral. It boils down to this: 1. Start with an assumption. 2. Read the text. 3. Adjust our assumptions. 4. Re-read the text. 5. Adjust our assumptions. We continue like this until it is no longer possible to adjust our assumptions (theology) without going outside of the spiraling inward towards the truth that we’ve already done. In this manner, we zero-in on the true meaning of the Scriptures.

Our next lesson will begin with an overview of the Old Testament, and then we will eventually get into each book of the Bible as we study the Scriptures.
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1. De Hamel, Christopher. Bibles of the Protestant Reformation. The Book. A History of the Bible. Chapter 9, p 225. Phaidon Press Limited, 2001.

2. De Hamel, Christopher. Bibles of the Protestant Reformation. The Book. A History of the Bible. Chapter 9, p 226. Phaidon Press Limited, 2001.

3. De Hamel, Christopher. Bibles of the Protestant Reformation. The Book. A History of the Bible. Chapter 9, p 228. Phaidon Press Limited, 2001.

4. De Hamel, Christopher. The English and American Bible Industry. The Book. A History of the Bible. Chapter 10, p 248. Phaidon Press Limited, 2001.

5. Trinitarian Bible Society. Preface. H KAINH ΔIAΘHKH.  7.5M/06/05 The Bath Press, Bath. Tyndale House, Dorset Road, London, England.

6. Bernard, David. Principles of interpretation 1. Understanding God’s Word: An Apostolic Approach to Interpretting the Bible. Chapter 2, p 38. Word Aflame Press, 2005.

Biblia Arabica

An interesting research project has been started, dealing with the translation of the Bible into Arabic. Most of the results of the project will be published in the recently established book series Biblia Arabica: Texts and Studies, published by Brill in Leiden and edited by an international team of six scholars, including Camilla Adang, Meira Polliack and Sabine Schmidtke. Check out the full article here at Evangelical Textual Criticism.

King James Version

The King James Version or Authorized Version of the Bible has been coming under fire recently. Many scholars and Bible teachers are saying that a good literal translation in modern English is more accurate and draws on source texts that have recently been discovered and are older than those used by Erasmus when he compiled the Textus Receptus (TR). The 1550 Stephanus edition was based on Erasmus’s Greek New Testament (Textus Receptus). Beza revised this and Beza’s Greek NT  is the Greek used by the translators for the King James Version.  Many believe that the Codex Sinaiticus and  Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus are better because they are older. Yet those three manuscripts, which were given preferential treatment and are the basis of the Wescott-Hort N.T. which were the basis of the Nestle-Aland 27th edition. The TR utilized many manuscripts in its construction, agreeing with the majority text, which agrees with over 5000 manuscripts and scroll fragments that are extant today, and have been proven to be accurate with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The interesting thing is that the codices comprising most of the Alexandrian text-type of the Minority Text were found near known Gnostic centers of worship and are thus suspect to being corrupted by the influences of Gnostic philosophy. All of the other 5000+ manuscript fragments compare favorably with the Byzantine text-type, which is the type associated with the majority text, which were used by Erasmus in the making of the Textus Receptus. Erasmus also compiled his own Latin version at the same time as the Greek of the received text (Textus Receptus). Erasmus used the latin of the Vulgate as well as the Greek extant mss of his day.

This being said, I believe the most faithful witness to the original autographs is the KJV text, precisely because they represent the majority of the extant Greek mss available today, and a modern translation, the NKJV, are the best translations for basing doctrine and for memorizing Scripture with.

The English Standard Version, Amplified Version, and the New Living Translation are good translations for clarification but in my opinion should be treated as commentary rather than Holy Scripture. All other versions I don’t use personally as most are dynamic equivalence translations (thought for thought) or paraphrases rather than the more literal word for word translation as found in the KJV and NKJV.

This post has been edited by Ryan Gustason for clarity and to correct some errors in the original. Thanks to Michael for the corrections!

Review: Cambridge KJV Clarion Edition Bible

The KJV Clarion Reference Black Calf-Split Bible, KJ483:X available from Baker Publishing Group is an excellent, genuine leather, quality made bible. It is available from the Baker Publishig Group’s Cambridge Bible website, as well as from such retail stores as Amazon.com.  The bible is calf-split leather which is a higher quality leather than typical Morocco leather bibles, but slightly less quality than goatskin or calfskin bibles.

The Baker Publishing website lists the bible’s dimensions as 7.0625 x 5.125 inches. The bible feels good in the hand, a perfect size for preaching or teaching from.

Binding

The binding is smyth-sewn which means it is bound in such a way as to allow for the bible to open and lay flat even if it is open to Genesis or Revelation. The cover is calf-split leather which is a technique employed in which the top layer of the skin is (top-grain) removed, and the lower level is then processed to make the calf-split leather. It is usually tanned via vegetable oil. It is very flexible, but not quite as limp as you have when buying a goatskin leather bible.

Inside

The text is typeset using Lexicon #1 type, which, according to Baker Publishing is “a digital font designed for easy reading and with many similar characteristics to traditional hot-metal Bible typefaces”. You can see a sample of the print on the page to the left.  This is Genesis chapter one, and notice how the bible lays flat without any need for a weight. That is a nice feature for extended study of the Word of God.  The Clarion Reference bible is in a single column layout, and in a paragraph format rather than a verse by verse format which is the more traditional format. As a study bible, this does not pose a problem, but if you are using it for sword drills or you are preaching from it, it may be a little more difficult to go directly to the verse you want as you’ll need to scan through the paragraphs to find the specific verse number you are looking for.

The reference system is well designed, and sits on the outside edge of the bible. This was done purposefully, as the publisher intended to not distract at all from the reading of the actual bible’s text. As I said earlier, this is a great bible for devotional or self study purposes.

The back of the bible contains a well done Reader’s Companion Reference System. Think of it as a concordance and dictionary combined. I actually appreciate this more than a traditional concordance. Typical bibles will include a concordance which is great for finding other scriptures which contain a word that you are studying, but useless if you are trying to find the meaning of the word.  The reader’s companion saves space and increases the usefulness of the concordance by rolling the concordance and dictionary into one.  As you can see in the pictures, the paper is a typical thin weight paper that most bibles come in. If you like to write notes in your bible, I’d recommend using either pencil or standard ink pens such as what you’ll get from a cheap Bic pen. If you use a gel pen it will bleed through. The same goes for typical highlighters. I’d recommend solid highlighters made of a very soft colored pencil lead which you can purchase at most bible supply store. The maps are very colorful and are pastel in the color palette.

You can see on the image to the left that the maps are extremely well done and are informative as well as beautifully illustrated. The bible map pages are a slightly thicker weight of paper than that which was used for the text of the bible.

If you are a notetaker, then you might be hard pressed to fing space for your notes in this bible. This is why one of my favorite bibles is the KJV Classic Note Taker’s Bible which I will review in the future, here at Pentecostal Blogger.

The King James Version or Authorized Version is the standard text from 1769. Almost all KJV editions are based on the Oxford 1769 edition of the text, including the Cambridge bible. This translation is timeless and is the edition used in most United Pentecostal pulpits. It is also the most quoted form of the text which has as its basis the Greek New Testament of Beza (1598 and 1588/89 Greek editions of Theodore Beza) and the Hebrew Old Testament of  Daniel Bomberg (Hebrew Rabbinic Bible by Daniel Bomberg [1524-1525]). The text celebrated its 400th year anniversary in 2011.

There are two ribbon bookmarks sewn into the binding, however I find that I do not use them that often. For those of you who use a daily reading plan, this may help by being able to “leap frog” the daily readings (one bookmark at the start of the daily reading, the other at the end, then for the next day, move the front marker to the last place of the next day’s readings). Another possible use for the two ribbons is if you’d like to concurrently read the Old testament and New Testament. The gold edges are nice, and they are not stuck together as some of my bibles in the past have been. The gold gilding doesn’t stay unmarred for very long however. My copy had a noticable mark in it one hour after unboxing the Clarion bible for the purpose of writing this review!

Last impressions? This is a sturdy, well made KJV bible which is slightly smaller than most bibles I have, and about a quarter of the weight is missing from this edition compared to other bibles I have owned. If you’re a highlighter or underliner kind of person, the paragraph format should make for easy reading with only slight “ghosting” of the words showing through the paper (as seen in the pictures). If you are a heavy note taker, this bible is probably not your bible as the margins are fairly narrow with little precious room to draft your commentary on the side. I like the look and feel of the calf-split leather and I would rate this bible 8 out of 10 stars overall.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher, Baker Publishing Group, through a book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

KJV 400th Birthday

This year, 2011, marks the 400th year that the King James Version (KJV) or Authorized Version (AV) has been in existence.  There were several celebrations, such as this one in Westminster Abbey, attended by Queen Elizabeth and this one at the Morris Cultural Arts Center.  The KJV was begun in 1604 and finished in 1611.  The bible was designed to replace the Bishop’s bible and eventually replaced the Geneva bible as well.

The King James Version translators used 1598 and 1588/89 Greek editions of Theodore Beza as well as the 1550 Greek Textus Receptus of Stephanusas the source for the majority of the New Testament text.  Both used the earlier work of Dutch scholar and Catholic Priest Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus.  The Old Testament was taken primarily from the Hebrew Rabbinic Bible by Daniel Bomberg.

The KJV is one of the most loved and most used bible translations still today.  The English used is a little archaic in some places, yet still scores a 5.8 on the Flesch-Kincaid grade level reading scale.  This is by far an easier to read and comprehend edition of the bible than most modern translations such as the New International Version (8.4), New American Standard Bible (6.1), Today’s English Version (7.2) and New King James Version (6.9).

The KJV has come under attack within the last century by various critics who say the underlining Greek and Hebrew texts used were substandard.  Of course these same critics are also quick to defend the likes of men like Wescott and Hort, Church of England scholars who did not believe in the divine inspiration of the scriptures.

All-in-all I recommend the KJV and it’s modern day sucessor the NKJV as great bibles for study, memorization and preaching.

Jordanian Lead Codice Forgery

Well, it appears time does tell. While the verdict is still out, Jim Davila at his blog PaleoJudaica.com has posted an article including e-mail correspondence between Peter Thonemann and David Elkington in regards to one of the codices written in Greek. It seems it is a copy of line 2 of the Greek text of a bilingual Aramaic/Greek inscription published by J.T. Milik, Syria 35 (1958) 243-6 no.6 (SEG 20, 494), and republished in P.-L. Gatier, Inscriptions grecques et latines de Syrie XXI: Inscriptions de la Jordanie, 2: Region centrale (Paris 1986), no.118. Well, I’ll keep you posted on any later developments, but for now I have to say it’s probable that these codices are forgeries.

James R. Davila of PaleoJudaica is Professor of Early Jewish Studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Peter Thonemann is a University Lecturer in Ancient History, Forrest-Derow Fellow, and Tutor in Ancient History, Wadham College. He is also a Lecturer in Ancient History at Keble College.

Other interesting links are as follows:

Ancient Codices Found

Jim West has posted an article on ScribD which claims that a hoard of ancient copper and lead plates containing ancient Christo-Judean texts has been found in Jordan. I’d advise the same as Michael Heisner with a let’s wait and see policy. If proved to be authentic, this could become one of the greatest bibliographic finds of this century.