The KJV translators explicitly stated their purpose was not to create an entirely new translation, but rather to improve an existing good translation or to synthesize multiple good ones into a single principal version[1].
Which translations King James I authorized them to consult? For additional textual support beyond the Bishop’s Bible (which served as the primary guide), the King permitted the translators to use the Tyndale Bible, the Coverdale Bible, Matthew’s Bible, the Great Bible, and the Geneva Bible[2]. These were the official sources they were allowed to reference.
The translators themselves praised their sixteenth-century predecessors, declaring they “deserve to be had of us and of posterity in everlasting remembrance” and calling them “Blessed” for breaking ground “upon that which helpeth forward to the saving of souls”[1]. This language suggests broad affirmation of earlier translation work, though the preface doesn’t systematically list every version they considered authoritative.
The translators also drew from non-English sources: all existing English versions lay before them, along with every available foreign version, Latin translations both ancient and recent, the Targums, and the Peshitta—all as aids to understanding the Hebrew and Greek originals[1]. By the time of the KJV, versions in several modern languages had appeared, including a revised French Bible (1587–8), an Italian translation by Diodati (1607), and two Spanish versions[3].
[1] F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments: The Original Languages, the Canon, Transmission and How We Got Our English Bible (Nashville, TN; Bath, England: Kingsley Books, 2018), 221.
[2] Modern English Version (Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014), x.
[3] J. H. Lupton, “Versions (English),” in A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents Including the Biblical Theology, ed. James Hastings et al. (New York; Edinburgh: Charles Scribner’s Sons; T. & T. Clark, 1911–1912), 5:256.
No comments:
Post a Comment