The following is a sequel of sorts to my previous post as I wanted to share even more variations between the original KJV and the current edition.
Again, my question to KJV-Onlyists is this: How do you determine what is perfect or not? If you had a 1611 KJV in your hands, would you be holding the perfect Word of God? Why or why not? At what point did the KJV become the perfect Word of God? Was it in 1612, 1613, 1616, 1629, 1638, or 1769? The KJV was edited a bit in each of those years. Is the 1769 edition perfect? Why? Which: the Oxford edition or the Cambridge edition? Why? What about the Modern King James Version or the Comfort-able King James Version?
Was there a perfect Word of God in English in 1768? If so, why was it edited a year later?
Most importantly, I would like to ask this: if the 1769 edition of the English Bible is perfect, what was the perfect Bible a year before that? Clearly it couldn’t have been the KJV ’cause it was still in need of editing.
KJV-Onlyism is a divisive tradition full of more holes than a bowl of Cheerios. May the Lord open the eyes and ears of all those trapped by this stronghold, just as He did for me.
Here are some more changes between the 1611 and the 1769 editions of the KJV. You can see that the changes in some instances affect the meaning of the context quite significantly!
- Deuteronomy 26:1 — “which the Lord giueth” vs. “which the LORD thy God giveth”
- Joshua 13:29 — “tribe of Manasseh, by” vs. “tribe of the children of Manasseh by”
- Ruth 3:15 — “he went into the citie” vs. “she went into the city”
- Psalm 69:32 — “seeke good” vs. “seek God”
- Jeremiah 49:1 — “inherit God” vs. “inherit Gad”
- Matthew 16:16 — “Thou art Christ” vs. “Thou art the Christ”
- Mark 10:18 — “There is no man good” vs. “there is none good” (note that now “there is” is marked as being added by the translators for clarity)
- 1 Corinthians 4:9 — “approued to death” vs. “appointed to death”
In addition to all of those variations, there is another interesting one at Jeremiah 34:16.
Modern versions of the KJV (the Oxford edition and the Cambridge edition) vary on this matter. The Oxford ed. says “…whom ye had set at liberty…” while the Cambridge ed. says “…whom he had set at liberty…”
Which is correct?
If the KJV alone is our authority, how on earth would we ever figure it out? However, thankfully, the preserved manuscript evidence is our authority, not a translation from that preserved evidence. The Hebrew in that passage is plural, and so “you” (or, as the KJV would read, “ye”) is the correct translation. But if all you have in your hands are two KJVs — one Oxford and one Cambridge — how could you ever come to any sort of conclusion? Even if you had the Hebrew text there, certain forms of radical KJV-Onlyism, such as that of Dr. Ruckman and his supporters, would prohibit using the Hebrew text — especially if it would override what the KJV says (or, in this instance, what the preferred edition of the KJV says).
Thank the Lord that He has preserved His Word through a mass of manuscripts which allow us to know His Word thoroughly rather than a singular translation which limits our studies to the interpretations of fallible men (i.e., “God forbid” is an interpretation — the word “God” doesn’t even appear in the Greek in those passages, but if you are forbidden to look at the Greek by an Onlyist doctrine, how would you ever know‽).
The above information is from the excellent work The King James Only Controversy by James R. White, which I recommend to anyone curious about whether modern Bible versions are trustworthy or not.
The variations between the 1611 & the 1769 editions of the KJV can be verified using e‑Sword which has both Bibles available for download freely.
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