Dr. Benjamin Blayney of Hertford College in Oxford undertook the 1769 revision[1], and his work involved systematic corrections across multiple dimensions of the text.
Textual and Linguistic Standardization
Blayney thoroughly revised the punctuation, examined and corrected words printed in italics by comparing them with the Hebrew and Greek originals[2], and continued updating and standardizing punctuation and italics while scrupulously correcting previous printers’ errors and reducing the use of capital letters[1]. He substituted more modern words for obsolete ones, including “fetched” for “fet,” “since” for “sith,” “lifted” for “lift,” and “more” for “moe,” with over four thousand words from the 1611 edition dropped from his revision[1].
Reference and Annotation Work
Blayney spent nearly four years checking and verifying cross-references, adding at least 30,495 new ones[1]. He thoroughly revised the chapter summaries and headings[1], and added to the marginal notes, contributing an additional 76 notes beyond the 383 added by his predecessor Dr. Paris[1].
Scope of Changes
Scholars estimate that well over 75,000 changes occurred between the 1769 edition and the original 1611 text[1]. Many changes involved updated spellings, standardized following Dr. Samuel Johnson’s 1755 English dictionary, as Blayney modernized spelling throughout to align with emerging English standards—accounting for the majority of differences between the editions[1].
[2] Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible with a Commentary and Critical Notes (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation, 2014), 18.
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