Linguistic Features of the King James Version Bible

Since its publication in 1611, the King James Version (KJV) Bible, also known as the Authorized Version (AV), has been the most revered, read, and loved of today’s forty-five English-language Bibles. The construction of this literary masterpiece is arguably the most ambitious academic project in the world. Begun in 1604, King James I of Scotland and VI of England employed forty-seven of England’s most renowned scholars to translate the Old Testament and New Testament from the Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and the books of the apocryphal books from Latin to Early Modern English, as accurately as possible.

Even after 400 years, the KJV is still widely regarded as the most popular bible. Many people claim that the KJV is the only accurate English translation because its words are faithful to the original sacred texts. On the other hand, for some of us, this Bible is sometimes difficult to read and understand. Adam Nicolson, author of the national bestseller, the secretaries of god states: “These scholars were not introducing the language of Scripture into the English they knew and used at home. The words of the King James Version are both English pushed into the conditions of a foreign language and a foreign language translated into English. ( 211) To help clarify the reading of this great book, some of the linguistic features should be explained, so that the KJV is easier to understand.

WORD ORDER: If you read the original Hebrew Old Testament, as well as the Greek in the New Testament, there seems to be no end to the manipulation of words and grammar when reading. However, the KJV transforms all parts of speech into an infinite variety of word order: adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositional phrases, and many others, are added to the subject (S), verb (V), indirect object (IO) and direct. object (DO). This can make reading this Bible a much more intellectual and breathtakingly beautiful experience.

HEBRAISM: (1) Ordinary English words, especially nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and conjunctions, are given different meanings when translated from Hebrew. For example, “and” replaces more than a dozen words with different meanings in Old Testament Hebrew.

(2) The preposition “of” expands the possessive meaning. So “Son of God” becomes “Son of God”, or “King of kings”, not “most excellent king”.

(3) Also, Hebraisms use double prepositions: “Under heaven” (Deuteronomy 25:19), not “Under heaven.”

(4) There is repetition of a theme: “The Lord your God, he will fight for you.” (Deuteronomy 3:22). Active verbs replace passive ones: “he will kill the oxen”, instead of “they will kill the oxen”. (Leviticus 1:5).

In his book, Hebraisms in the Authorized Version of the Bible, William Rosenau fills a glossary with more than 2,000 Hebraisms in the King James Old Testament. (170-283).

CHARACTERISTICS OF GREEK SYNTAX: (1) The verb usually comes before the subject: “Then the disciples came to Jesus.” (Matthew 17:19), “…because he commands even the unclean spirits with authority, and they obey him.” (Mark 1:27), “…A rain is coming; and so it is.” (Luke 12:54), “Then Jesus comes from Galilee…” (Matthew 3:13).

(2) The New Testament KJV closely follows the Greek almost word for word. (Original Greek): “In those days John the Baptist comes preaching in the desert of Judea and saying: Repent, for he has drawn near to the kingdoms of heaven.” (Matthew 3:1-2) (KJV). “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:1-2).

(3) The words are ordered so that they have more importance at the beginning of the award. This allows the reader or listener to pay attention immediately from the beginning of the sentence: “Truly this was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:54). “Whoever I defeat, I will make a plunderer.” (Revelation 3:12).

ARCHAIC WORDS: The most commonly used words in KJV Early Modern English are the pronouns “you” and “your”. singular, object of a preposition), THY (your, plural, possessive adjective), THINE (yours, plural , possessive pronoun), YE (you, singular subject), TÚ (singular do, preposition object), YOUR (tu, singular, possessive adjective, pronoun).

TWO IMPORTANT WORDS: There are two important words that dominate both testaments of the KJV: “Until” and “About.” “…On this rock I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:18), “But Peter…said to them, Men of the Jews, and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and listen to my words” . (Acts 2:14) Throughout the Book of Matthew, when Jesus is preaching, he repeatedly states, “I tell you,…”.

MISSING LETTERS AND WORDS: Misprints were quite common in the 17th century: “