King James Version Copyright?

the king james version or authorized king james is a great book.

it's one of the better versions in english. what most people don't understand is that when a new company comes along and wants to make their own "versions" of the bible, they have to create the content that is 17% (some argue 20-25 percent) different than the original text.

for example: in matthew 28:18 in the kjv we have: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and inearth."


but in the niv we have: "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."'

they changed the phraseology, and a couple of words to enforce their own copyright. most noticeably they exchanged "power" for "authority"...

wow, they actually did exchange the truth of God for a lie...

let me prove it.

a policeman is in the middle of traffic. he holds up his hand. the car, which can totally run him over, stops because the driver knows who the policeman is... this is authority.

conversely,

an bull elephant is in the middle of traffic. he rears back his head, the car, which has no way of harming the elephant stops because the driver knows that he would die... this is power.

yes. the kjv is a very good version. but, when in doubt, you should look it all up in greek or hebrew to really get down to the nitty gritty of what every word means. i often use an amplified bible for this reason alone... sometimes the word intended in hebrew has a connotation that the translator couldn't work into a "proper" english sentence.