The Glorious History of the King James Bible

by David W. Cloud

The King James Bible is not merely another translation. Its history is one of the most fascinating chapters of church history and reads almost like a novel. This book traces this glorious heritage, beginning with the Wycliffe Bible of the 14th century. Every English-speaking believer should know this history; yet, sadly, even in the staunchest Bible-believing churches it is rare to find someone who is informed about the great price that was paid to provide us with an excellent Bible in our own language. Chapters include the Wycliffe Bible (1380), the Tyndale New Testament (1526), the Coverdale Bible (1535), the Matthew’s Bible (1537), the Great Bible (1539), the Geneva Bible (1557), the Bishops Bible (1568), and the King James Bible (1611). Under the section on the KJV we look at the spiritual and literary and scholarly climate of that day, the amazing translation process itself, the peerless translators, the nature of the translation, Tyndale’s influence, and the KJV’s worldwide influence. We also answer the following questions: Was King James a homosexual? Hasn’t the KJV been revised and updated in thousands of places? Could the KJV be revised again? Is the King James Bible inspired? Isn’t the KJV too antiquated and difficult to read? The author has studied this history diligently. He has a massive private library of materials on this subject dating back to the 16th century and has researched the subject in many parts of the world, including England, Wales, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Illustrated.

228 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good summary of how we got our King James Bible, including a summary of the English Bibles that preceded it and brief biographies of the translators. It is written from the perspective that the King James Bible is the best English translation, but is not itself inspired. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of English Bibles up to and including the King James. I give it 3 stars rather than a higher rating because much of the book consists of quotes from other books on Bible versions contained in the author's personal library, and there are also a few less than scholarly sources cited (e.g., Wikipedia and even someone's personal earthlink.net web page).