“If the King James Bible was good enough for the Apostle Paul, it’s good enough for me!”
Over the years, there have been many errors identified in the various printings of the so-called Authorized Version (it was never officially “authorized” by anyone) of the Bible, the most beloved translation of the Scriptures into English. H.A. Scrivener put the number at 1,500. Some of these errors produced humorous (and occasionally scandalous) results. The very first edition of the King James Version became known as the “He Bible,” because, in the third chapter of Ruth, after she lies down at the feet of Boaz, the printers incorrectly set into type the phrase, “and he went into the city,” when, according to context, it was obviously Ruth. The “Wicked Bible” of 1631 was a printing of the KJV that included the presciently modern commandment, “Thou shalt commit adultery.” After this, a certain Mr. Barker no longer served as the king’s printer and was fined 300 pounds.
Considering such errata alone, it is easy to scoff at the reactionary subset of fundamentalists who hold, essentially, to the view that the great 1611 translation of the Bible is itself God-breathed. This tiny group numbers itself among those who wear the label “King James Only,” though most “KJVO”-types do not subscribe to the...