The year 2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible in 1611.
Commissioned by James I of England in 1604, this translation was the work of 47–54 scholars divided into six committees. Some historians believe that the king himself formulated the rules and a procedure for the translators, so keen was his interest in the project.
For many readers, the KJV is unmatched in its spiritual uplift, poetry, and majestic language. It remains eminently readable when its basic terminology is decoded, and is perhaps unmatched when read aloud. The initially intimidating archaisms—“thee,” “thy,” and “thou,” among many others—can become part of the acquired devotional vocabulary of readers young and old. As the product of an age that was both meditative and declamatory, the KJV is versatile.
