Our daily usage of the English language has changed over the years,
and therefore, when people open a copy of the King James Bible, it is
easy to misunderstand some of the words. Why? Because we make
assumptions that the old words mean something new.
I had little interest in the King James Version until I understood
some of the following points. It was only then that the peculiarities
started to make sense to me, and even started to be useful. The light
first started to dawn when I read
Berend de Boer's article
on the King James Version.
So for those who are interested, here is a list of helpful facts that
I have learned over time, which may be enlightening to the new reader.
- Thee, Thy, Thou, Thine - These are the singular forms of
personal pronouns. For example, if I were talking directly to
my friend, in modern English I might say: "I think I have your
magazine." But in reality, I am only talking to one person, so
the use of your is somewhat ambiguous. I could be more
specific by saying: "I think I have thy magazine." This extra
care to separate singular pronouns from plural is important,
because the original languages that the Bible is translated
from have these same distinctions.
- Ye, Your, You - These are
the plural forms of the same pronouns. If I were talking to an
angry mob outside my barn, I might say: "I am hoarding my grain,
and you can't have any!" In modern English, it is unclear whether
I am talking to a single person or a mob. But in King James
English, it is obvious I am talking to a group, because you
is plural.
- Thy, Thine, and My, Mine - When used in connection with
another noun to show possessive, these are similar to the articles
a and an. For example: "a tree" and "an apple."
You will often see things like: "thy land" or "thine eye"; or
"my land" and "mine eye." This rule doesn't always hold true,
such as in Genesis 16:11 where you read "thy affliction."
But it mostly holds, and gives the wording a
more flowing rhythm when read out loud.
Here's a brief summary of the above pronouns, and how they relate to
each other. You can see another table
on Wikipedia.
|
Singular First Person |
Plural First Person |
Singular Second Person |
Plural Second Person |
Singular Third Person |
Plural Third Person |
| Nominative |
I I am happy. |
We We are happy. |
Thou Thou art happy. |
Ye Ye are happy. |
He/She He is happy. |
They They are happy. |
| Objective |
Me He gave me a drink. |
Us He gave us a drink. |
Thee He gave thee a drink. |
You He gave you drinks. |
Him/Her He gave her a drink. |
Them He gave them drinks. |
| Genitive |
My/Mine I found my coin and mine apple. |
Our I found our coins. |
Thy/Thine I found thy coin and thine apple. |
Your I found your coins. |
His/Her I found his coin. |
Their I found their coins. |
| Possessive |
Mine The coin is mine. |
Ours The coin is ours. |
Thine The coin is thine. |
Yours The coin is yours. |
His/Hers The coin is his. |
Theirs The coin is theirs. |
- -eth, -est - In modern English, when using a singular
pronoun, the verb will end with an s to match in number.
For example, "He receives the payment daily" vs. "They receive
the payment daily." In KJV English, there are now two forms
of singular pronouns: Second Person and Third Person. Modern
English only has Singular Third Person. So in KJV English, the
endings of the verb now also must match the person of the
subject. For
example, instead of the modern style of "He speaks loudly," the
KJV would say "He speaketh loudly" in order to match the third person.
But if I were speaking directly to the man, using the singular
second person, I would say: "Thou speakest loudly."
This holds true for many verbs that are used in connection with "Thou."
For example, "Thou art," or "Thou hast" or "Thou receivest," or
in the past tense "Thou receivedst." These all end with a t
or st, because they are being used with the subject Thou.
Likewise, when used with singular third person pronouns, you will
see examples like: "He is," or "He hath," or "He receiveth," or
the past tense: "He received."
- Imperitive commands - In modern English, I could give you
a command by saying, "Go into the store and buy me a loaf of
bread." The subject you is implied, and not written.
This is the case in KJV as well, but sometimes you will
see a pronoun right after the verb, similar to
the "buy me" above. For example, "Go thou into the store and
buy me a loaf of bread."
- Punctuation - Pay special attention to punctuation in
the KJV. Sentences tend to be longer in KJV than other translations,
and the punctuation is more important than the verse markers.
Much more important, since a single sentence, and therefore a
complete thought, often spans multiple verses. Also, take note
that the colon is used liberally in the KJV, not in the usual
way that we are accustomed to today, to present a list of items,
but very often to explain the section that came before. For
an example of colon usage, read the 10 Commandments in
Exodus 20
and pay special note to how the sections before and after the
colons explain each other. In my reading and understanding,
I have also found that the colon seems to take precedence over
the comma and semicolon. For example, see verses 4, 5, and 6 of
Exodus 20, where the final section of the sentence comes after
the second colon and contains a semicolon of its own. There
appear to be 3 main parts to the sentence: The details of
forbidden graven images: the forbidden action with regard to
graven images: and the reason why, which contains the two ways
God treats those that love and hate Him.
- Extra words - Where the translators were unable to translate
exactly word for word, or even word-into-many-words, sometimes
an extra word needed to be inserted to retain the meaning in
English. When this happened, the words are normally printed
in italics, or sometimes put in square brackets. These
words are not strictly in the original text, but can be faithfully
implied by the context. In many cases, it is possible to read
the sentence without the inserted word, and it still makes sense
and has the same meaning.
You may wonder why so many pains were taken to translate so precisely.
It depends on your view of God. If you believe that God's words are
precise, and that every word and connotation and implication has meaning,
then the more precise the translation, the more meaning you can gather
from God's words.
I believe this was Jesus's perspective. (Matthew 4:4, and 5:18)
Yet even with this high level of care, it is hard to translate everything
from the original texts into English. Take for example Numbers 25:
1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit
whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods:
and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
Numbers 25
According to Nelson's King James Study Bible, the gender of the word
they in verse 2 is feminine, although it
is not possible to distinguish that from the English they.
This gender implies that it was the women of Moab that lured the
Israelites toward other gods. This is also clear from the context,
but sometimes it takes an alert mind to see it, or (more likely)
a helpful footnote.
Other translations, such as the NIV, may change the sentence structure
in order to bring such points out more clearly in everyday English.
And indeed, this is done in this passage. This is very useful. But
in changing the sentence structure, sometimes the precise wording of
the original is lost, and logical connections between passages are
harder to see.
For example, the KJV may translate certain phrases directly,
like "sons of Belial," while the NIV might translate the same phrase
as "wicked men."
Knowing both is helpful to understand what the phrase means, but seeing
the KJV translation also allows you to
make connections to Old Testament examples when reading Paul's question
in 2 Corinthians 6:15: "And what concord hath Christ with Belial?"
Suddenly now you have a few Old Testament examples to think back on.
In the end, it is helpful to compare multiple translations whenever you
run into a difficult passage.
Now for some specific word differences:
- Meat and Flesh - In KJV English, the word meat is used
to mean food in general. It can mean grain, bread, fruit,
etc. If speaking specifically about the meat of an animal,
the word flesh will be used. For example, in Leviticus,
there is a particular offering described, where no flesh is
given, but just grain in a certain prescribed manner. This is
called a "meat offering" in the KJV, but does not actually contain
any flesh. Also, you may read things like "when you sit down
to meat," which is referring to sitting down to eat a meal.
- That and What - The KJV uses the word that rather
heavily, compared to modern English. Many places we might use
the words what, or which or even who where
the KJV uses that. This can be confusing until you
get used to it.
- Would and Want To - The KJV uses the older meaning of
the word would
which means want to, intend to, desire to, etc. The clearest
example of this is to compare Romans 7 with the KJV and the NIV.
Here's the NIV:
19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil
I do not want to do -- this I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I
who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Romans 7 (NIV)
Here's the KJV, which shows the older usage of both the words
would and that:
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I
would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me.
Romans 7 (KJV)
- Wherefore and Why - The KJV often uses wherefore where
we would use why. In almost all cases that wherefore is
used as a question, you can read why instead. (For example,
Genesis 26:27: "And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me,
seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?") In other
cases, such as in explanations, it is similar to therefore
but with a more explanatory connotation.
- Conversation - Note that this word is very often used with
the old meaning of "conduct or behaviour," not as two people
talking. For example, 1 Timothy 4:12: "Let no man despise
thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word,
in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."
Here, "word" covers the speaking, and "conversation" covers
the behaviour, that Timothy was to show as an example.
I hope this HowTo has been of help. Just writing it down has been a
learning experience for me! If you have any questions, please
feel free to email me, and perhaps I can update this document at a
future date.
Edit #1: - added "conversation" section