All The Ways The King James Version Of

The Bible Changed The Original Text

The King James Bible was first published in 1611, and it quickly became the
standard English translation of the Bible. But there are a number of King
James Version Bible errors and mistranslations that completely altered the
meaning of the original text. For example, one 1631 edition ordered people to
commit adultery. Yes – you read that right.

The Bible has changed over time, just like depictions of Jesus slowly became
whiter over time. And every translation of the Bible introduces new changes.
The history of the King James Bible is no exception. It includes multiple
mistranslations, errors, and other problems. Ever heard of the Holy Ghost?
That’s an error in translation – it’s supposed to be the Holy Spirit. Translation
is always a challenge – but it’s particularly difficult when the translators don’t
even know the dialect of the original text, as was the case with the King James
Bible.

The King James Bible was created in the early 17th century to placate
England’s Puritans, making it a deeply political text. On top of that, the King
James Bible includes fantastical creatures that seemed plausible in 1611, like
unicorns and giants. It also attacks witches, who King James hated and
personally tortured – but who don’t seem like such a huge problem today.

Photo: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

King James I of England (or, as he was known before his cousin Queen
Elizabeth I died, King James VI of Scotland) was the first Stuart king of
England. He ascended to the throne during a tense moment for religion.
The Reformation was still in full swing, and his two predecessors on the
English Throne, Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Mary I (also known as
Bloody Mary) had both undertaken religious persecutions. Mary
executed at least 250 Protestants, while Elizabeth banned the Catholic
Mass and seized the goods of anyone found with a rosary.

By the time James came along, members of the Church of England who
considered existing versions inaccurate and insufficient were actively
requesting a new English translation. James approved a new translation
of the Bible, a text Anglicans could more readily embrace. To carry out
this task, he commissioned the new iteration. To translate, 47 Anglican
scholars were organized across Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford,
with Archbishop of Canterbury Richard Bancroft supervising the
edition.

King James wanted to protect Britain from a contentious religious war

like the ones that had torn France and Germany apart in the 16th
century. So he appointed a committee of 54 scholars and clergymen to
write the King James Bible. It took them over seven years to complete
the translation.

As writer and editor Charles McGrath points out, “From the start, the
King James Bible was intended to be not a literary creation but rather a
political and theological compromise between the established church
and the growing Puritan movement.” Essentially, James wanted a clear
text with no room for doctrinal dispute.

But the King James Bible still contained a number of mistranslations

that have confused readers for centuries.

Translating the Bible is a major undertaking. The King James version of

the Bible has 783,137 words, and the committee had to argue about
every single one. But even punctuation could play a major role in how
people interpreted Scripture. Just take a look at the “blasphemous
comma.”

In some editions of the King James Bible, a single comma was removed
that made Jesus sound like a criminal. In Luke 23:32, the text is
supposed to read “And there were also two others, malefactors, led with
[Jesus] to be put to death." But some editions dropped the comma,
creating a blasphemous implication: “And there were also two other
malefactors led with [Jesus],” making it sound like Jesus was also a
criminal at the front of a criminal duo.
In 1611, no one was quite sure whether unicorns really existed. In his
influential Histories of the Animals, 16th-century naturalist Conrad
Gesner had included unicorns. Gesner even gave readers advice on how
to distinguish between authentic unicorn horns and fake knock-offs.

The King James Bible mentions unicorns nine times, as when Isaiah
34:7 warns about the doom coming to the enemies of God’s church:
“And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the
bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood.”

The term is a mistranslation from the Hebrew re’em, which has also
been translated as rhinoceros, wild ox, oryx, or aurochs. For over 400
years, readers of the King James Bible have been waiting on unicorns
because of a mistranslation.

In one 1631 edition of the King James Bible, a printing error completely
changed the Ten Commandments. Instead of the old standards – thou
shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal – this Bible left out one very important
word. It commanded, “Thou shalt commit adultery.” Whoops!

The printer, Robert Barker, was given a heavy fine, and his printing
license was revoked. King Charles I ordered all 1,000 copies of the so-
called “Wicked Bible” to be burned. Only about 10 copies remain, and in
2015, one sold for over $40,000.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus told his followers to spread his message and
baptize new Christians “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost.” There’s only one problem: the Greek New Testament
never mentions a ghost. Instead, it uses the word pneuma, as in breath
or spirit. But the King James Bible translated pneuma as ghost instead.

This mistranslation was likely because the creators of the King James
Bible drew from a number of manuscript sources, including Latin
translations of the New Testament. The Latin Vulgate, for example, used
Spiritu Sancto, which some English translations turned into Holy
Ghost.