1. The original 1611 KJV had thousands of spelling differences
Words like “sonne,” “hee,” “mooued,” and “speake” were normal. The spelling we know today comes from the 1769 Oxford revision, not the 1611 printing.
2. Two different 1611 editions were printed in the same year
They are called the He Bible and the She Bible because Ruth 3:15 differed:
- One said he went into the city
- One said she went into the city
Both were considered correct at the time.
3. The KJV translators never intended their work to be final
They wrote in their preface that future generations should revise their work as scholarship improved. Ironically, many later readers treated the KJV as untouchable.
4. The KJV originally included the Apocrypha
It sat between the Old and New Testaments. It was not removed until the late 1800s in most Protestant printings.
5. The translators used at least seven earlier English Bibles
The KJV is not a fresh translation from scratch. It is a careful revision of:
- Tyndale
- Coverdale
- Matthew
- Great Bible
- Geneva
- Bishops
- Douay (indirectly)
Tyndale’s influence is especially massive.
6. The KJV was not immediately popular
For decades, the Geneva Bible remained the favorite of common people. The KJV only became dominant after Geneva printings were banned in England.
7. The KJV translators worked in teams and reviewed each other’s work
Every passage went through:
- individual translation
- committee review
- cross‑committee review
- final master review
It was one of the most collaborative translation projects in history.
8. The KJV helped standardize English grammar
Phrases like:
- “thou shalt not”
- “verily verily”
- “and it came to pass”
shaped the rhythm of English literature for centuries.
9. The KJV translators used musical rhythm intentionally
They crafted lines to sound beautiful when read aloud in church. This is why the KJV has a poetic, almost musical cadence.
10. The KJV translators were not all clergy
Some were:
- linguists
- historians
- poets
- legal scholars
- classical experts
It was a multidisciplinary team long before that term existed.
11. The KJV was printed in blackletter (Gothic) type
Modern readers associate the KJV with Roman type, but the original 1611 looked medieval to our eyes.
12. The KJV translators used marginal notes
The 1611 edition included thousands of notes explaining:
- alternate translations
- manuscript differences
- literal meanings
Most modern KJV printings remove these notes entirely.
13. The KJV influenced more English idioms than Shakespeare
Expressions like:
- “the powers that be”
- “a thorn in the flesh”
- “the salt of the earth”
- “signs of the times”
entered everyday speech through the KJV.