What the original 1611 King James Bible looked like.
A friend on social media shared with me a YouTube entitled, “AV1611 The True Bible” by John Doerr. In it, Mr. Doerr says,
Throughout the 1800s you’ve got a number of attacks on Scripture. The most subtle would be the change of the authorized version of 1611 by a Vatican manuscript subscribing man named Benjamin Blayney who didn’t know any Hebrew. And he chose incorrect words, and he was not part of a Christian committee.
Let’s just say that KJV community is now indoctrinated to believe that this Blayney 1769 text is the same good old-fashioned text of that King James authorized and it’s not.
From Wikipedia:
Benjamin Blayney (1728 – 20 September 1801) was an English divine (Anglican clergy) and Hebraist (A Hebraist is a specialist in Jewish, Hebrew and Hebraic studies), best known for his revision of the King James Version of the Bible.
Now we have an opposing view. John Doerr says Blayney didn’t know any Hebrew, and Wikipedia says he was a specialist in Hebrew! I know we can’t always go by what Wikipedia says because it is left leaning and of a secular worldview. But Mr. Doerr doesn’t give us any primary source to back up his allegation that Blayney didn’t know any Hebrew.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, should we be influenced by the opinion of one man? Should we not investigate and do our own research and fact check what we see and hear on social media? That’s what I’m doing in this article. I compared the original 1611 KJV to the 1769 edition. Which is better? You decide.
I put in bold the differences in meaning between the two translations.
The original 1611 KJV text in this chart came from https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Books/1611-KJV-Books.php
| Verse | 1611 KJV | 1769 Edition KJV |
|---|---|---|
| John 3:16 | For God so loued þe world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life. | For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. |
| John 1:12 | But as many as receiued him, to them gaue hee power to become the sonnes of God, euen to them that beleeue on his Name: | But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: |
| John 3:36 | He that beleeueth on the Sonne, hath euerlasting life: and he that beleeueth not the Sonne, shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him. | He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. |
| Romans 10:9,10 | That if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus, and shalt beleeue in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saued. For with the heart man beleeueth vnto righteousnesse, and with the mouth confession is made vnto saluation. |
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. |
| Deuteronomy 26:1 | And it shall be when thou art come in vnto the land which the Lord giueth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein: | And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein; |
| Joshua 13:29 | And Moses gaue inheritance vnto the halfe tribe of Manasseh: and this was the possession of the halfe tribe of Manasseh, by their families. | And Moses gave inheritance unto the half tribe of Manasseh: and this was the possession of the half tribe of the children of Manasseh by their families. |
| Isaiah 14:12 | How art thou fallen from heauen, O Lucifer, sonne of the morning? how art thou cut downe to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? | How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! |
| Daniel 9:27 | And hee shall confirme the couenant with many for one weeke: and in the midst of the weeke he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the ouerspreading of abominations hee shall make it desolate, euen vntill the consummation, & that determined, shalbe powred vpon the desolate. | And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. |
| Ruth 3:15 | Also he said, Bring the vaile that thou hast vpon thee, and holde it. And when she helde it, he measured sixe measures of barley, and laide it on her: and he went into the citie. | Also he said, Bring the vail that thou hast upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her: and she went into the city. |
| Psalm 69:32 | The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall liue that seeke good. | The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God. |
| Jeremiah 49:1 | Concerning the Ammonites, thus sayth the Lord; hath Israel no sonnes? Hath he no heire? Why then doth their king inherit God, and his people dwell in his cities? | Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? |
| 1 Corinthians 4:9 | For I thinke that God hath set forth vs the Apostles last, as it were approued to death. For wee are made a spectacle vnto the world, and to Angels, and to men. | For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. |
My opinion: The 1769 edition is better not only in spelling and the fact it uses italics for words that are not present in the original, but it corrects errors in the translation! Jeremiah 49:1 in the 1611 edition is obviously wrong! It should say Gad, not God!
And lo and behold, the 1599 Geneva Bible in every case of a difference in meaning between the 1611 and 1769 edition of the KJV of verses in the chart, agrees with the 1769 edition! That in my opinion shoots the biggest hole in Mr. Doerr’s assertion that the 1769 edition is corrupt.
I worked as a translator/ proofread for 11 years. I don’t believe any translation can be perfect. There’s always something lost in translation. What we have today with the KJV is sufficient to lead any English speaker to the knowledge of salvation in Christ. If we could read the original Hebrew and Greek, we would know the meanings of the names of all the people! This is true in the Japanese language. I know Japanese and can tell you the meanings of the names just by the Chinese characters they use to write them. For example, Ichiro, the name of the famous Japanese baseball player means “first son”. How many English speakers know that? There’s no Japanese person who doesn’t know that.
I use only the KJV 1769 edition on this website, but I am not a KJV onlyist! I also like the Geneva Bible and think some of the verses are even better than the KJV. KJV Onlyism claim that the KJV is the ONLY Word of God is very unreasonable in my opinion. What about people who don’t read English? What about their Bibles? Are they devoid of the Word of God just because they can’t understand the English KJV? That being said, I don’t like modern translations simply because the New Testament is not translated from Textus Receptus but from corrupt manuscripts from Westcott and Hort. See Reasons Why the King James Version is the Best English Translation of the Bible
Can the 1769 edition of the KJV be improved? I know this sounds heretical to KJV only people, but I definitely think so. I would change Easter of Acts 12:4 to Passover, Jesus of Hebrews 4:8 to Joshua, and all 20 cases of the word “conversation” to conduct or behavior. Does that mean I am adding tp, subtracting from, or changing the Word of God? I am merely improving a translation, correcting mistakes, and using words that mean today what the Holy Spirit meant in the original language text.
If you don’t agree with this article and think I am missing something, please send me the references of Scripture you think are wrong in the 1769 edition and are correct in the 1611 edition, and I will add them to the chart.
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Daniel 9:27 Grossly Mistranslated in Modern English Bible Translations
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Hi James, sorry to bother you, no need to publish this. I am sending part of a long article by Will Kenney on the printing errors in the KJV. I also watched Doerr’s video, actually have his channel bookmarked to keep an eye on. I do not see, that he can substantiate his charge of Jesuit influence on Blayney, nor am I sure, as you mentioned, that the Vatican manuscript would even be available to him.
From Will Kenney, “The Printing Errors Ploy”
“Blayney did not change the words of the King James Bible. The only thing he did was to update some of the spelling of certain words (things like sonne to son, sinne to sin, citie to city, eies to eyes, dayes to days, yeares to years, hee to he, sate to sat, sayde to said. He also adjusted some of the punctuation (some few things like a colon to a semi-colon (“:” to “;”) and he italicized a very few words that were not previously in italics. And some words that previously were capitalized he changed to non-capitalized. For example “ark” used to be “Arke” and “covenant” used to be “Covenant”. That was it. He never changed the wording of the King James Bible.”
“There were no textual changes made. By this time the “typos” or “printing errors” had already been caught and corrected. Most of the printing errors were corrected within the first 30 years, and this was done by one or two men who were the original translators.”
Here are some of the classic examples:
Deuteronomy 26:1 “which the Lord giueth” vs. “which the LORD thy God giveth”= caught and corrected in 1629
Joshua 3:11 “Arke of the Couenant, euen the Lord” vs. “ark of the covenant of the Lord” – caught and corrected in 1629
Joshua 13:29 “tribe of Manasseh, by” vs. “tribe of the children of Manasseh by” – caught and corrected in 1638
Ruth 3:15 “he went into the citie” vs. “she went into the city” – corrected in 1613.
2 Kings 11:10 in the Temple vs. in the temple of the LORD – caught and corrected in 1638
1 Sam 18:27: 1611 KJV – “David arose, he and his men”,- caught and corrected in 1629. Modern KJV – “David arose AND WENT, he and his men”
The original 1611 had a printing error when the words “and went” were skipped over.
How do we know it was a printing error? Simply because the words “and went” are in the Hebrew text and also in the previous bible translations of Coverdale 1535, the Great Bible 1540, Matthew’s Bible 1549, the Bishops’ bible 1568 and the Geneva Bible 1587.
And Scrivener tells us in his book The Authorized Edition of the English Bible 1611, Its Subsequent Reprints and Modern Representatives page 153, that this printing error was caught and corrected in 1629.
Psalm 69:32 “seeke good” vs. “seek God” caught and corrected in 1613. This is obviously a minor printing error. A tired printer probably glanced at what he was to put in the text and made a common mistake. There is only one letter difference between the two words and both of them make sense. “seek GOOD” for “seek GOD”. The Hebrew text reads “seek God” and so did all previous English bibles like Wycliffe 1395, Coverdale 1535, The Great Bible, Matthew’s Bible, the Bishops’ bible 1568 and the Geneva Bible 1587.
Isaiah 49:13 “for God” vs. “for the LORD” – caught and corrected in 1638
Jeremiah 31:14 “with goodnesse” vs. “with my goodness” – caught and corrected in 1629
As for Jeremiah 38:16 the first printings had an easily explained printing error, and it didn’t even change the meaning of the verse. The first printing accidentally omitted the name Zechariah.
It said: “So the king aware secretly unto Jeremiah”
According to Scrivener, in his book The Authorized Version of the English Bible 1611 – Its Subsequent Reprints and Modern Representatives, this was caught and corrected in 1638 to read as it does now – “So Zedekiah the king stare stare secretly unto Jeremiah….”
Jeremiah 49:1 “inherit God” vs. “inherit Gad” – caught and corrected in 1616.
Jeremiah 51:30 “burnt their dwelling places” vs. “burned her dwelling places” – caught and corrected in 1629
Ezekiel 6:8 “that he may” vs. “that ye may” – caught and corrected in 1612
Ezekiel 24:5 “let him seethe” vs. “let them seethe” – caught and corrected in 1638
Ezekiel 24:7 “powred it vpon the ground” vs. “poured it NOT upon the ground” – caught and corrected in 1613. Very easy to skip over the word “not”. It is in the Hebrew texts and so read Wycliffe, Coverdale, Great bible, Matthew’s bible, the Bishops’ bible and the Geneva bibles.
Ezekiel 48:8 “which they shall” vs. “which ye shall” – caught and corrected in 1638
Daniel 3:15 “a fierie furnace” vs. “a burning fiery furnace” caught and corrected in 1638
Luke 1:3 – the first printings accidentally skipped over that little word ?all? – in ?having had perfect understanding of ALL things from the very first?.
All previous English Bibles contained the word ?all?. The meaning is basically the same with or without the word “all” and this would have been hard to detect. But the caught it and corrected in in 1629.
Matthew 14:9 “the othes sake” vs. “the oath’s sake”. ORTHOGRAPHIC STANDARDIZATION/ADJUSTMENT. Earlier English bibles did not have the “comma” before the “s” in “oaths”. Tyndale and Bishops’ bibles also read this way.
Mark 10:18 – “There is NO MAN good” vs. “there is NONE good” caught and corrected in 1638
John 15:20 – The original printings of the KJB read: “the servant is not greater than the Lord.” But the present day King James Bible reads: “the servant is not greater that his lord.”
In John 15:20 the meaning is not changed at all in the context whether we read “the servant is not greater than the Lord” or “than his lord”.
Reading “the lord” are the Great bible 1540, Matthew’s bible 1549 and the Bishops’ bible 1568 has “than the Lorde”. But reading “the servant is not greater that his lord” are Tyndale, Coverdale while Beza’s N.T. 1599 and the Geneva Bible had “than his master”.
This “printing error” would have been extremely hard to detect since the meaning is the same regardless of whether it says “the Lord”, “the lord” or “his lord”.
Scrivener says this final change to “the servant is not greater that his lord” was made in 1762.
Acts 8:32 — “the shearer” changed to “his shearer”. Minor printing error. Caught and corrected in 1629. “HIS shearer” is reading of Tyndale, Coverdale, Great bible, Matthew’s bible, the Bishops’ bible and the Geneva Bible.
Acts 24:24 — “which was a Jew” changed to “which was a Jewess”. Again, minor printing error, no change in meaning, caught and corrected in 1629. “which was a Jewess” = Tyndale, Coverdale, Great bible, Matthew’s bible, Bishops’ bible and Geneva Bible.
1 Corinthians 4:9 “approued to death” vs. “appointed to death” caught and corrected in 1616. This was a simple printing error. All previous English bibles read “appointed to death” -Tyndale, Coverdale, Great bible, Matthew’s bible, Bishops’ bible and the Geneva bible.
1 Corinthians 12:28 “helpes in gouernmets” vs. “helps, governments” – caught and corrected in 1629
1 Corinthians 15:6 “And that” vs. “After that” – caught and corrected in 1616.
2 Timothy 4:13 – “The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, AND THE BOOKS, but especially the parchments.” The 1611 printers accidentally skipped over the words “and the books”. This printing error was caught and corrected in 1616. The words “and the books” are in all Greek texts and so too read Wycliffe, Tyndale, the Great Bible, Matthew’s bible, the Bishops’ bible and the Geneva Bible. This was a simple printing error that was soon caught and corrected.
1 Peter 2:5 – “”sacrifice” changed to “sacrifices”. This printing error was caught and corrected in 1629. The TR reads the plural “sacrifices” and so too do Wycliffe, Coverdale, the Great bible, Bishops’ bible and the Geneva Bible. The meaning is the same in either case.
1 John 5:12 “the Sonne, hath” vs. “the Son of God hath” FIXED IN 1629
Revelation 12:14. “to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might FLY (flee) into the wilderness.”
These two words are easily confused with each other and in this context they both mean basically the same thing.
If we look to previous English bibles we see that those that read “FLEE” were both Wycliffe 1395 and the Bishops’s bible 1568.
But those reading FLY were Tyndale 1524, Coverdale 1535, the Great bible 1540, Matthew’s Bible 1549 and the Geneva Bible 1587.
And according to Scrivener’s book this was caught and corrected in 1629; not in 1769. It is a minor printing error that does not really affect the meaning of the verse at all.
2 Corinthians 11:32: 1611 KJV – “the King, kept the city with a garrison”, KJB now – “the king kept the city OF THE DAMASCENES with a garrison”
This again was an obvious printing error where the eyes of the printer skipped over the words. Scrivener says on page 193 of his book that this was caught and corrected in 1629 and it is the reading found in the Greek texts as well as the previous Wycliffe bible 1395, Tyndale 1524, Coverdale 1535, Matthew’s bible 1540, the Bishops’ bible 1568, and the Geneva Bible 1587.
What about Mark 5:6 “came” or “ran”?
The original printing of the KJB said “But when hee saw Iesus afarre off, he CAME and worshipped him.”
The KJB now reads: “But when he saw Jesus afar off, he RAN and worshipped him.”
The Greek word in all texts is clearly RAN and not came.
This was a printing error that would have been difficult to catch, but it was caught and corrected in 1638 according to Scrivener’s book The Authorized Edition of the English Bible 1611 on page 186.
How do we know it was a printing error? Because the word used there can only mean RAN and so read Wycliffe 1395, Tyndale 1526, Coverdale 1535, the Great Bible 1540, Matthew’s bible 1549, the Bishops’ bible 1568, the Geneva bible 1587 and The Beza New Testament 1599 – And when he saw Iesus afarre off, he RANNE, and worshipped him.
All this information is found in Scrivener’s book “The Authorized Edition of the English Bible (1611), Its subsequent reprints and modern representatives”. Published by the Cambridge University Press 1884.
Job 4:6 – 1611 first printing
?Is not this thy fear, thy confidence; THE UPRIGHTNESS OF THY WAYES AND THY HOPE.
Caught and changed in 1638 (Scrivener – Authorized Version of the English Bible page 164) to the way it reads today –
Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, THY HOPE, AND THE UPRIGHTNESS OF THY WAYS.?
It should be noted that the words are the same and the meaning of the verse is the same in both printings; only the word order is different.
Two of the original translators, Samuel Ward and John Bois, caught many of these printing errors and corrected them within the first 30 years.”
Ron, thank you for that! I appreciate comments on my website. The more material on my website the better search engines will rate it. God bless you.
I am enjoying looking into your article James, (not finished yet) and haven’t watched Doerr’s video (I will), but his point of view is somewhat troubling. I worked in newspapers and publishing and printing for many years. Typos and other minor corrections are not evidence of translation issues.
His clinging to the AV1611 is not edifying. As you alluded to, there were typos and spelling changes that needed to be made, and some were made quite quickly, considering the laborious nature of book publishing in those years.According to Scrivener’s Authorized Edition To the English Bible (1884),
Deuteronomy 26.1 was changed in 1629
Joshua 13.29 in 1638
Ruth 3.15 in 1612
Psalm 69.32 in 1617
Jeremiah 49.1 in 1616
I am not against John Doerr’s position. I don’t favor it, but he should make his case in the best most accurate way he can. However, Blayney wasn’t even born when those corrections were made.
You are right, James, it is an interesting problem though. In modern Greek, (using Google Translate) English to Greek, Easter is translated Pascha, while Passover is translated Evraiko Pascha. Evraiko meaning Jewish. I think the Greek speaking churches from early on referred to the day of the Lord’s resurrection as Pascha. Perhaps the context determines for which event the word pascha is being used. The KJV translators may have considered the church to have used it from day one.
I am not a KJV only adherent, but Textus Receptus. I also collect Bibles in a number of versions to compare. Nevertheless, I believe the King James is translated from a highly sophisticated apparatus not usually recognized today, mostly because its enemies are many and extremely motivated to turn the church against it..
Thank you for your help James, I will continue to look into this. By the way, I also enjoyed your thoughtful article and am still looking into the issues it raises.
Can Passover be a viable correction for Acts 12.4 if Peter was taken in the days of unleavened bread? Wouldn’t Passover have already taken place?
Good question, Ron. All I know is according to Strong’s concordance, the Greek word used in Acts 12:4 is pascha, and that is the same word in 26 other verses in the New Testament which is translated into English as Passover.