The KJV, King James Version (or sometimes called the AV because King James authorized the work on it) was once the best selling English Bible. Today, it is still the most widely owned English Bible in the world.
When Queen Elizabeth of England died in 1603, King James VI of Scotland took the throne as King James I. There were at least three popular versions of the Bible at that time: The Geneva Bible, the Great Bible and the Bishop's Bible. In January, 1604 the Puritans asked King James I for a new translation. Work on the new Bible began in 1607 with 47 translators who met twice each day. The translators worked in 6 groups at 3 major universities. 2 groups worked at Oxford, 2 groups worked at Cambridge and the last 2 groups did their work at Westminster. In 1611, the first version was ready for publication. As with any other publication, revisions were made. The Apocrypha, writings apparently of Christian nature, were at first included in the King James Version. Because of their dubious authenticity, they were eventually eliminated in subsequent revisions. Today's version is quite close to a revision published in 1769. However, there is now available a Revised King James Version which is even more contemporary.
The King James writers recognized the translation problems they would encounter. In the King James Bible, the italicized words are actually "extra" words inserted to make the meaning clearer; these words are not actually found in the Hebrew or Greek language. Let's look at the appendix in a King James Bible:
Readers of the King James Version now and again come upon words printed in italics; that is to say, with slanting letters. Some have supposed, mistakenly, that these words were printed in this fashion for emphasis. This is not the case. The words in italics are words which do not have any equivalents in the Hebrew or Greek text. They are words which have been supplied by the translators in order to make the meaning of the sentence clearer, or in order to make the passage read more smoothly in English. Numerous italicized words are found in the fifth chapter of Matthew, and they occur with almost equal frequency in other parts of the Scriptures.
The Geneva Bible, which was a pioneer version in many different ways, was the first to use italics in this fashion. The Geneva Bible was the Bible used by the Pilgrims, and remained the most popular English Bible for a century after the printing of the KJV.
The NIV is now the best selling English Bible in the world.
God 's Word, our language.
The King James Bible was a masterpiece of contemporary English when it was introduced in the 1 600s. But by the twentieth century, Christian evangelicals in their own countries and missionaries abroad found themselves trying to preach and teach from an antiquated vernacular. More years passed and the Bible's English became so unlike current language that serious Bible scholars knew something had to be done.
In 1965, following several years of exploratory study by committees from the Christian Reformed Church and the National Association of Evangelicals, a group of scholars met at Palos Heights, Illinois, and concurred on the need for a contemporary Bible translation. A year later at a second meeting in Chicago, the decision was endorsed by a large number of leaders from many denominations.
Translation Committee Forms
To begin work, the Palos Heights group assigned translation to a self-governing body of 15 academicians, the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT), composed for the most part of biblical scholars from colleges, universities and seminaries. In 1967, the New York Bible Society (now the International Bible Society) generously undertook financial sponsorship of the project, and made it possible to enlist the help of many distinguished scholars.
Within a short time, biblical scholars from universities, colleges and seminaries were asked to give their support and expertise to this project. No participant was chosen by denominational affiliation, but each was committed to the full authority and complete trustworthiness of the Bible as God's Word.
The fact that the scholars came from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand gave the project its international scope. That they were from many denominations-including Anglican, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Brethren, Christian Reformed, Church of Christ, Evangelical Free, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Wesleyan and other churches - helped to safeguard the translation from sectarian bias.
The translators were determined to produce a Bible able to speak to a wide variety of regions, theologies and denominations. The very presence of scholars from so many different backgrounds proved a promise against provincialisms-British English ruling over Americanisms, American English the choice over Anglicisms. Their diverse traditions further guaranteed protection from theological bias, as the translators' many geographical backgrounds guarded against a regional dialect
Accuracy, Clarity, Beauty, Dignity
From the beginning of their work to translate the original Bible texts into contemporary English, the CBT was determined to deliver accuracy, clarity and literary quality. Their love for the Bible's beauty echoes the King James through passages such as Psalm 23, Isaiah 53, John 14 and 1 Corinthians 13.
Equally important was to preserve the dignity of the Holy Scriptures. The translators' goal was to give Christian readers a Bible suitable for public and private reading, teaching, preaching, memorizing and liturgical use.
Readers' and Christian leaders' reception to the NIV New Testament in 1973 affirmed the translators and their work continued. When it was presented five years later, the NIV was a completely new version of the Holy Bible-the work of more than one hundred scholars working directly from the best available Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts.
Thirteen years from the first meeting in 1965, Zondervan and IBS presented the complete NIV to the public, which was received with enthusiasm. Several denominations use the NIV almost exclusively throughout their teaching and study materials. By 1986, it surpassed the venerable King James Bible as the most popular English-language Bible available.
Brief Bible Statistics:
The Old Testament contains 39 books
The Old Testament contains 929 chapters
The Old Testament contains 23,214 verses
The New Testament contains 27 books
The New Testament contains 260 chapters
The New Testament contains 7,956 verses
For a total in the Bible of: 66 books; 1,189 chapters; 31,170 verses
The Longest Verse: Esther 8:9
The Longest Chapter: Psalms 119
The Longest Book: Psalms
The Shortest Verse: John 11:35
The 2nd Shortest Verse: I Chronicles 1:25
The Shortest Chapter: Psalm 117
The Shortest Book: 2 John
Detailed Bible Statistics:
The Bible is actually a collection of 66 books written by at least 40 human authors. Christianity, which is based on the Bible, is the only religion that claims a resurrected Savior, Christ. The Bible is a work of long compilation since the writings of its books span at least 1500 years. It is an ancient writing in that the last author of any of the books, the Apostle John, died approximately 1900 years ago. The two major divisions are the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament is comprised of 39 books, Genesis to Malachi
The books of the Old Testament were written over a period of about 1000 years. The Old Testament can be divided into 4 major subdivisions:
Genesis to Esther are 17 books which deal with History.
The first 5 books are known as the Pentateuch and are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These books are also known as the Mosaic Law because it is generally accepted that Moses was the author of all 5 books or at least the majority of each. The books also cover the pre-Canaan or Promised Land existence of the Israelites.
The next 12 books are Joshua to Esther and can be divided into to 2 subcategories. The first 9 of these 12 books are Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles and II Chronicles. These books record the experiences in Canaan.
The last 3 of these 12 books are Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. These books are the post-exile from Canaan history.
The 5 books in the center of the Old Testament are Poetry and Wisdom Literature.
These books are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. These books contain, respectively, writings of the 5 following subjects: (1) human tragedy and suffering; (2) poetry of praise, prophesy, problems and peace; (3) wisdom for life; (4) the meaninglessness of life apart from God and the futility of autonomous human wisdom; (5) God's gift of the relation of love between men and women, which is actually a foreshadowing of the relationship between Christ and the Church.
The last 17 books of the Old Testament are the Prophets.
These are divided into 2 main categories: the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets.
The Major Prophets are made up of 5 books and are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel and Daniel.
The Minor Prophets are made up of the last 12 books of the Old Testament and are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.
The New Testament is comprised of 27 books, Matthew to Revelation.
The books of the New Testament were written over a period of approximately 100 years. The approximate 1500 year span of the writings of the Bible is completed in the roughly 400 years between the last writing of the Old Testament and the first writing of the New Testament. There are four major subdivisions of the New Testament:
The first 5 books are Historical books which include the Gospels of Jesus Christ and the Book of Acts.
The Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Of these, Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as the synoptic Gospels, which means they contain much mutual agreement on the life of Christ. Matthew was a Jewish tax collector and his Gospel is written from a Jewish perspective. Mark had served as a missionary with the Apostle Paul and his Gospel was written from a Roman perspective. Church tradition attributes Mark's Gospel to his recording of the Apostle Peter's preaching and teaching. Luke was a physician and his Gospel was written from a Greek perspective. John, who had a fishing business, made it clear that Jesus was God in human form and is recommended reading for new Christians.
The next book is the Book of Acts and it was written by Luke. Acts deals with the formation and spread of the church, but most importantly, the coming of the Holy Spirit on an individual basis to the believers, which occurred first on the Day of Pentecost. Also, the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles is an important theme in this book. Acts also deals with the conversion of the Apostle Paul, who was known as Saul of Tarsus. Paul would later go on to write the next 13 of the 27 books canonized in the New Testament.
The next 13 books are known as the Epistles of Paul.
These first 9 of these 13 books are Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians and II Thessalonians. These books were written to the various churches that Paul had established for their edification. These books teach the doctrine necessary to establish and maintain a Christian church. Paul wrote the last 4 of these 13 books with the theme of a pastor giving instruction to Christian leaders. These 4 books are I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus and Philemon.
The next 8 books are known as the General Epistles.
These books are Hebrews, James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John and Jude. These books are not directly written to Christian churches as such, but are more directed at Christians who were scattered abroad.
The last book of the Bible is the Book of Revelation.
Revelation was written by the Apostle John who also wrote the Gospel according to John, I, II, and III John. Revelation was written for edification and comfort of Christians who were enduring terrible persecution. This book has an apocalyptic theme throughout, depicting past, present and future events.