Creation of the K.J. Version of the Bible

The Rule and Guide to our Faith

One of the first things you will learn in Freemasonry is that the Holy Bible is the rule and guide to our faith.   You will find it on the Altar of every Lodge. It is always open when the Lodge is in session.

The first Bibles in English

Do you realize how you  came to have a Bible in English?  It is a long story.  It is one that cost the lives of many who were dedicated to bringing the Bible into the hands of the common man.  Or at least making it possible for the common man to understand it when read to him.

From the 700’s to Wycliffe’s Bible

From about the 700s until Wycliffe’s Bible in 1388, all you would have found available in English would have been various Psalms and other individual citations.

John Wycliffe and William Tyndale

In 1388 John Wycliffe, created the first complete  English translation of the Latin Vulgate.  It was written in Old English. He was an English theologian, philosopher and church reformer.

In 1526 Tyndale published the New Testament in Early Modern English.  He was educated at the University of Oxford and became an instructor at Cambridge, where, in 1521, he became convinced that the Bible alone should determine the practices and doctrines of the church and that every believer should be able to read the Bible in his own language.  He lacked the support of the English Crown that protected Wycliffe and was burned at the stake in the Netherlands in 1536, before he could publish his Old Testament. 

A similar fate had earlier met the Lollards, who were followers of Wycliffe’s teachings and belief that each person should be able to have the Bible available in his own language.

Tyndale’s was the first translation in Early Modern English.  It was based on the Masoretic Text as well as other sources.  It was not merely a translation of the Vulgate.  His work later served as a source for a number of Bibles that followed in quick succession.  The Cloverdale in 1535, Matthews in 1537, Great Bible and Taverners Bible in 1539.

The Bibles in General use when King James came to power.

The Geneva Bible in 1557 and 1560 was the first with the Old Testament translated directly from the Hebrew texts and was in wide use at the time of the King James Bible.  It was the Bible brought over to the New World with the Puritans and was used by them and the Calvinists.  The Bible used by the Anglicans and Presbyterians was the Bishop’s Bible, published in 1568.  By now it was firmly established that each person should have the rule and guide to their faith available to them in their native language.

In 1582 (New Testament) 1609 (Old Testament) the Douay-Rheims Bible came into use by the Roman Catholic Church.

The King James Version

This then sets the stage in 1611 for the King James version.  This is the version you will find on most Masonic Altars, although with changes that were introduced over the next 100 or so years. 

Do you have a true appreciation for how and why it came to be? The following video explains the very interesting history of why it was ordered,  You will learn why the Geneva Bible (the Bible of the Puritans) was not acceptable to King James as well as the process by which the translation was done.  Also, why the KJV lends itself so well to being read out loud.  The latter was very important to the translators and much appreciated by our Ancient Brethren. 

PS Give yourself a little time to get adjusted to the style of the speaker. 

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