King James Bible Turns 400 in 2011

What is Your Favorite King James Bible Passage that Changed Your Life?

Aly Adair
Aly Adair, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Sep 21, 2010 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
The King James Bible Authorized Version turns 400 years old in the year 2011. The bible (Authorized Version in English) was translated and published in 1611 in England and to this day is one of the best selling English books in history. The King James Bible of 1611 is considered a masterpiece of scholarly translation and fine printing technology for its time. Each page was printed on a cotton sheet measuring 16 1/2" by 10 1/2".

There is even some speculation that at the time, 46-year-old William Shakespeare was one of King James I of England's 50 master translators of the King James Bible since the 46th word of the 46th Psalm is "shake" and the 46th word from the end of the Psalm is "spear".

There were in fact, other bibles published before the King James Bible. You can click here to read one of the most interesting bible histories from the King James Bible Trust organization of how the King James Bible came to being. But, it was the King James Bible that dramatically changed the world and opened millions of people's minds to God's power.

Even if you do not believe in God, the pure history of the amazing King James Bible is worth honoring on its' 400th birthday. To read more about how the King James Bible changed the world in 1611, read King James Bible, A Full Account of the Bible in English.

I will never forget how Connie Francis, President John F. Kennedy and the King James Bible changed my life forever. It was 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas and I was seven years old. I had just received my first King James Bible in Sunday School class at Meneely PresbyterianChurch in El Paso, Texas. It has a red cover and I still own that bible today.

Soon after I received my very own King James Bible, I was sitting in my first grade classroom when we were told that President Kennedy had been shot and school was closing so we had to go home. Like most in the world, our family spent the next month glued to our televisions, watching in horror and sadness as our President had been gunned down. We mourned and cried for Jackie, John Jr., and Caroline Kennedy.

Later that year, my Dad's favorite female singer, Connie Francis, wrote a song called In The Summer of His Years in honor of President John F. Kennedy. Proceeds from the sale of the record were donated to dependents of the policemen shot during the assassination, making it one of the earliest known charity records in music history. Early in 1964, MGM Records released an album titled In The Summer of His Years with Connie Francis singing The Lord's Prayer, Ave Maria, The Bells of St. Mary's and other spiritual songs in tribute to JFK.

It was when my Dad bought this album and I heard Connie Francis sing The Lord's Prayer that I knew the Bible was right and the power of God must be real. I had read the bible in Sunday School and at home with my Grandma, but it was the first time I had ever heard someone singing the words of the King James Bible with such conviction that it took my breath away. To this day when I hear Connie Francis sing The Lord's Prayer from Saint Matthew 6:9-13 in the King James Bible New Testament, it makes me want to fall to my knees and praise God.

I don't know how you can choose a favorite passage of the King James Bible, but mine is the Lord's Prayer. There is an interesting story about how the verses of the Lord's Prayer changed through different bible translations at the end of this article: THE BIBLE IN ENGLAND AND THE BIBLE IN ENGLISH, An English Project Presentation by Christopher Mulvey.
(Emeritus Professor of English, University of Winchester).

Congratulations to England on the 400th birthday of the King James Bible Authorized Version. Help celebrate the King James Bible birthday and the Power of God by sharing your favorite King James Bible verse and how it changed your life.

For More Information About MGM Records:
MGM E/SE-4210 - In The Summer of His Years - Connie Francis [1964] (2-64, #126) Aura Lee/Ave Maria/The Bells Of St. Mary's/Danny Boy/Every Night/God Bless America/In The Summer Of His Years/The Lord's Prayer/My Buddy/Red River Valley/Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's An Irish Lullaby)/True Love True Love

Published by Aly Adair

Aly Adair is an Air Force Veteran with a career in teaching and educational publishing. Aly has an MBA and is a former small business owner.  View profile

  • The Lord's Prayer can be found in King James Bible New Testament, St. Matthew 6:9-13.
  • The King James Bible Authorized Version in English was first published in England in 1611.
  • The King James Bible remains one of the best selling English books of all time.
Miles Smith, a general among the king's army of translators, says in the original preface to the King James Bible: "we weary the unlearned, who need not know so much, and trouble the learned, who know it already."

8 Comments

Post a Comment
  • Luke M.1/30/2011

    Great article and great read!

  • LarrWayne11/28/2010

    Thanks for the article. It appears that almost all of the translations into English, after the KJV, omit words and passages with the excuse "some other ancient versions didn't have these verses in them".. I want all of the Word of God to look at it, not just what some censor wantsme to see. At first glance it appears the Jerusalem Bible may be the only modern version that doesn't remove some of the text.

  • Robert O. Adair10/23/2010

    become very thirsty, their heads hang down, their tongue swells and protrudes from their mouth. Deer are not much more intelligent than cows, probably not capable of deep emotions. In the modern translations, a weak statement is likely to be substituted for a powerful image.

  • Robert O. Adair10/23/2010

    Very interesting! Layton's historical view is very slanted and so condensed as to lend to misunderstanding. Henry Vlll was not in any sense a Protestant, to the day he died, he understood himself to be a Catholic. The Elizabethan Settlement, hammered out against Roman Catholic attempts to exterminate Protestant, was very fair, Catholicism was tolerated but Catholics could not hold public office because of the Catholic doctrine that it was the bounden duty of a Catholic head of state to turn that country into a Catholic country. The King James Bible was translated at what most scholars consider the literary peak of the English language, the era of Shakespeare and Milton, etc. It has never been surpassed in being both a good literal translation and a great work from a rhetorical point of view. Modern translators study languages but not rhetoric. Psalm 42, "As the hart panteth after water brooks..." is likely to end up "As the deer longs for water" A hart is a male deer, when deer become

  • John Layton10/2/2010

    King James had 2 children that lived to adulthood a boy and a girl, the boy became King Charles I and passed the throne to his sons, Charles II and James II. The throne was taken away from James II by parliament (illegally)and given to King James I's daughters descendants King George of Germany whose great grand daughter is Queen Elizabeth II. King James' legal Heir to the throne exist in exile, now in America in the Person of HSH Prince John or John Robert Layton of Scranton, PA.
    The Catholic Bible was translated to English from Latin By King James in an attempt to keep Catholics like him from being executed, since England was now Angelican(Thanks to Henry VIII)
    The Angelican Church Allows Parliament to run and control the government, the catholic church allows the King to hold absolute power.
    So the true King lives in exile while a german Princess rules as Queen!

  • Sheryl Young9/23/2010

    Great review of the Birthday Boy!

  • Robert Lee Alford9/21/2010

    No better book ever written

  • Tony Jingo9/21/2010

    i thoroughly enjoyed this Aly, thank you!

Displaying Comments

To comment, please sign in to your Yahoo! account, or sign up for a new account.