This is not so much a Bible review as it is a commentary on a fringe group way out in the fringes of a fringe movement. Did you get that? If you did not, hopefully it will become clearer as you read this post. With that said, here goes.I use the King James Version. It is not the only version I use from my collection of about two hundred, but it is my preferred version. It is also the preferred version of the church of which I am a member. Most of my Bible study materials are keyed to the King James. For 300 years, for all practical purposes, when anyone talked about the Bible, it was a given that they were talking about the King James. For the past 100 years, if any other version of the Bible was referenced, like as not, the other version was weighed against the King James. Over the years, I have acquired several parallel Bibles where some other version is placed side by side with … you guessed it … the King James. I have parallels where the King James is printed side by side with the New International Version, the Living Bible, The Modern Language Bible, New American Standard Bible, The Revised Standard Version, Beck, Williams and of course the New King James Version. I have a couple of reprints of the original 1611 King James. I have an interlinear of the King James which shows the Greek and Hebrew text from which the King James was translated. When I memorize a Bible verse, it is always from the King James. I just like the King James … NO! … that is an understatement … I love the King James Version. I truly believe it is the greatest literary treasure of the English language.
There are those who like the King James even more than I. Have you heard about the King James Only Movement? This is a group that promotes the King James as the only acceptable version. The arguments are varied and many are complex. The following explanation is over-simplified for brevities sake, but its basis comes from an early proponent of the King James Only Movement, Benjamin Wilkinson1. The King James Only Movement’s position is that there are two Greek textual families or streams. One stream leads to the King James Version and the other stream leads to all the other Bibles. Only the King James steam is pure.
Some people, though, are even more obsessed and fixated on the King James Version than the standard, run-of-the-mill King James Onlyite. For them, just any old King James Version will not do. Not for them is the 1611 original nor the revisions of 1629, 1638, 1762, or 1769 which corrected printing errors and standardized the spelling. No they need a very special revision.
There is a fellow, Matthew Verschuur from Australia, who discovered that circa 1900, Cambridge University Press made a new, albeit minor, revision which nuanced the spelling and capitalization, making the King James up-to-date and ready for the 20th century. Verschuur calls this the Pure Cambridge Edition or PCE. Verschuur insists that the only acceptable King James Version is the PCE. Apparently he has gained a small following. There are those who send their recently purchased Bible back to the publisher if it does not conform to the PCE. Others will actually burn their Bible if it is not the PCE.
According to Verschuur, if you want to know if your King James Version is the Pure Cambridge Edition it must conform to the following:
1. “or Sheba” not “and Sheba” in Joshua 19:2
2. “sin” not “sins” in 2 Chronicles 33:19
3. “Spirit of God” not “spirit of God” in Job 33:4
4. “whom ye” not “whom he” in Jeremiah 34:16
5. “Spirit of God” not “spirit of God” in Ezekiel 11:24
6. “flieth” not “fleeth” in Nahum 3:16
7. “Spirit” not “spirit” in Matthew 4:1
8. “further” not “farther” in Matthew 26:39
9. “bewrayeth” not “betrayeth” in Matthew 26:73
10. “Spirit” not “spirit” in Mark 1:12
11. “spirit” not “Spirit” in Acts 11:28
12. “spirit” not “Spirit” in 1 John 5:8
There you have it. Personally, I cannot find a single thing in any of the twelve items that change my perception of Gospel. Perhaps there is. But even if there is, I personally do not think it will factor into my next acquisition of a King James Version, nor will it affect my study. I am just not that big of a purist, I guess. For those who are, I wish them well in their quest.
1 Benjamin Wilkinson, “Our Authorized Bible Vindicated”, Payson, AZ: Leaves of Autumn Books [1984], pg. 12)
