King James Version

The King James Version of the Holy Bible was translated into English for the benefit of the Church of England at the behest of King James I of England, first published in 1611 and was the authorized version for use in the Church of England and became perhaps the most influential English version in America. Eventually seven different editions of the King James Version were produced, the most recent of which was produced in 1769, and it is this edition which is most commonly cited as the King James Version.

The King James Version has traditionally been appreciated for the quality of the prose and poetry in the translation, although the English language has changed considerably since the time of publication and although the translators of the Bible used a version of English that was somewhat archaic even at the time of publication.

Its popularity is such that sometimes people refer to the text of the King James Version as the "original English", possibly because such people are unaware that the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, and that there were at least three older English language translations of the Bible. One of these older editions, the Geneva Bible, was the Bible of choice for the Puritans and was brought over on the Mayflower to America.

The King James Version Old Testament is based on the Masoretic Text while the New Testament is based on the Textus Receptus as published by Erasmus. There are some differences from modern Bibles, which are based in part on more recently discovered manuscripts. It is, however, a common belief among some conservative fundamentalist Protestants that the newer versions of the Bible are based on corrupt manuscripts and that the King James Version is more authentic than more recent versions.

The original printing of the King James Version included some books of the Apocrypha/Deuterocanon. They began to be omitted in approximately 1769, and the most common printings of the modern day rarely include them.