Page 100 - Yahwehs Book

King James Bible

Perhaps the most widely known example of translation bias is that observed in the writing of the
King James Bible. In giving the English translators the charge to produce a new Bible translation,
King James listed 15 rules that the translators were to follow. Following are the first four rules
delivered to the translators, and printed in all of the early copies of the King James Bible.

1. The ordinary Bible read in the church, commonly called the Bishops’ Bible, to be followed, and
as little altered as the truth of the original will permit.

2. The names of the prophets, and the holy writers, with the other names in the text, to be retained
as near as may be, accordingly as they are vulgarly used.

3. The old ecclesiastical words to be kept, namely, as the word church not to be translated
congregation &c.

4. When any word hath divers significations, that to be kept which hath been most commonly used
by the most eminent Fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place, and the analogy of faith.

None of these rules express a motive to create an excellent and accurate translation of Bible in
English. Rather, each of these rules manifest the bias of man. King James wanted to preserve that
which was familiar, and in harmony with the orthodox practice and teachings of the Anglican
Church. Rather than following a well devised naming convention that could have brought order to
the confusion found in the Bishop’s Bible, the translators were told to keep that which was familiar
and common (vulgar). The ecclesiastical (religious) words preferred by the Anglican church were
also to be maintained. The Greek word “eklessia” was to be translated as “church” rather than