What a TIME IT IS to witness for Christ Jesus y’all!! Let me explain, how we can ABSOLUTELY AND WITHOUT A DOUBT trust in the inherent word of God.
Let’s start by saying, this verse doesn’t say the words of the LORD are purified seven times, but are
1. One of the key passages in defence of the preserved purity of God's word in English (the King James Bible - Ps 12:6) is actually misunderstood and misapplied, even by some accomplished defenders of his word.
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. (Ps 12:6)
2. The facts are that:
a. Ps 12:6 says that the LORD'S words are pure words,
b. They have always been pure words,
c. The participial phrase "purified seven times" modifies the metaphoric-noun "silver". It does not modify the subject-noun "words", as many would claim. We know this by at least two proofs:
1) by the parallel construction of the TWO participles used to modify silver – "tried" and "purified", and
2) by the full colon break that precedes them - which separates the metaphor (in the subordinate clause) from the principal clause
d. Therefore, the LORD'S words are being compared metaphorically to silver that has (already) been purified seven times.
e. By failing to understand the rules of grammar in this, some defenders of God's word mistakenly believe that the process of inspiration, itself, or that of preservation, itself, is being compared to the seven-stage purification process of silver.
f. But, the LORD'S words were pure when they were first issued. They remained pure when they were written. And they continued to remain pure when they were translated.
3. It is the silver that was purified seven times; not the words of the LORD that were purified seven times.
4. Now, we realize that God's word has been written in at least seven languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Old Syrian, Old Latin, German and English. But these were not all complete translations, and they do not constitute progressively purified translations of God's word.
5. We also realize that seven major English bibles were printed: Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Matthew's, Great, Geneva, Bishops' and King James Bibles. Again, these seven works are certainly interesting, but they do not constitute progressively purified versions of God's word. At most, they are like the 'silver' that has been tried and purified, until they manifest the perfection of the pure words that God spoke.
6. In short, the words of the LORD have always been pure - and will always be pure.
7. You can trust God's word in English, the King James Bible - EXACTLY as written!!
1. The words of the LORD are pure words
Notice how the verse says that the words of the LORD are pure. Every one of His words are pure (Pro 30:5). The word pure can take on different meanings but in this sense it means free from defects; perfect; faultless. There is not a single word in scripture which is in error or that God did not intend to be there.
2. As silver tried in a furnace of earth
In ancient times, silver was purified by a process called cupellation. The metal alloy containing the silver was placed in an earthen vessel such as clay and heated in a very hot furnace until it melted. In this process, the impurities - called dross - floated to the top and were skimmed off the surface of the liquid. The process was repeated until the silver was completely purified. The refiner knew the silver was pure when it shined and he was able to see his reflection in it.
God's words are compared to silver that has been refined through this process. What stands out here is the phrase "tried in a furnace of earth." Indeed, since the beginning of creation, the word of God has continually been "tried" here on earth and has come under intense fire. As far back as Genesis 3:1 the serpent was already beginning to question God's very words. He put doubt in Eve's mind about what God said. As we shall see, he tirelessly persists in that effort today. Also, the scriptures have literally been burned by those who wished to suppress them. Jeremiah 36 gives the account of King Jehoiakim cutting inspired scripture with a penknife and throwing it into the fire (Jeremiah 36:23) because he didn't like what it said. But it wasn't lost because God simply had Jeremiah take another roll and speak like words for Baruch to transcribe (Jeremiah 36:27-28, 32). In the late Middle Ages, Roman Catholicism prohibited common folks' access to the scriptures and often burned copies of translations into the vernacular languages in order to keep the people under the heel of the pope. A notable example of this is that William Tyndale was burned at the stake in 1536 by King Henry VIII. Henry was still holding to Catholic tenets despite his excommunication. Tyndale's crime? Translating the scriptures into English. Many copies of his New Testament translation were also burned publicly in England. However, Tyndale's dying prayer to open the king's eyes was answered. It eventually culminated in the King James Bible 75 years later.
The old King James Bible (KJB) has been in existence for a little over 400 years and continues to be the standard bearer for the English scriptures. In that time, it has undergone many trials. Over 100 modern English translations, most of them since 1885, have flooded the market in an effort to supplant the KJB as the authority. The majority are based on underlying texts which are considerably different than those upon which the KJB is based. This can be seen by simply comparing them with the KJB. Space does not permit a detailed discussion of the problems with the modern versions. It is, however, worthy of note that these post-KJB translations come and go and rarely stay popular for long. The KJB endures.
One other typical way the KJB comes under fire is through the very ones that are supposed to be teaching or preaching the Bible. These Bible college/institute/university/seminary trained "teachers" almost exclusively point out "errors" in the KJB! Have you ever heard a preacher say something like "a better rendering would be..." or "this is an unfortunate translation of this passage" or "the Greek conveys the meaning of the word better"? They are almost always referring to the KJB. Aren't they really saying, "Yea, hath God said"? But that's what they have been trained to do. See Genesis 3:1 again to see who is really teaching them. How about the statements of faith from so many churches, ministries, and Bible societies regarding the scriptures? Most say something along the lines of God's inspired words being found only "in the original autographs" or "as originally written". What they are inferring is that God's pure, perfect and inspired words are not to be found in copies or translations and are not available today! This will be discussed in more detail shortly but, for now, it will suffice to note again that the KJB endures. It is the standard to which everything is compared.
3. Purified seven times
To be clear, God's words have not gone through a process of purification. They have always been pure. Rather, His words are likened to the purity of silver after it has gone through the purification process described above multiple times. But why is the number seven given? Numbers have significance in the Bible and this is no exception. As we shall see, there is a clear link between the number seven and the KJB.
In the Bible, the number seven is the number of completeness. A few examples are:
- God rested on the seventh day after completing creation (Gen 2:1-3)
- Solomon's temple was completed in seven years (1 Kings 6:37-38)
- Naaman washed seven times in the River Jordan and his cleansing was complete (2 Kings 5:10, 14)
- When the seventh angel pours out his vial of the wrath of God in the Tribulation, it will be done (complete) (Revelation 16:17)
As referenced above, Tyndale's work began a series of English Bible translations that led up to the KJB. Listed below are the individual major translations in the order of their appearance. There were others besides these but they either had minor impact or were based on Catholic-type texts. They are:
Tyndale Bible
Coverdale Bible
Matthew's Bible
Great Bible
Geneva Bible
Bishop's Bible
King James Bible
Note that the KJB was the seventh major early English translation. King James I of England authorized its translation in 1604 and it was completed in 1611 - a total of seven years. To repeat, the KJB is the seventh major English translation and it was completed in seven years. It bears the number of completeness! That is why it has endured for four centuries and stood against all the attacks upon it. It shines as pure silver and neither the seminary-educated Bible critic has been able to eradicate it nor has any of the several latest and greatest "updated" versions been ever able to replace it as the standard.
4. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever
God promises to keep every one of His words throughout all time (Psalms 119:160; Matt 24:35; 1 Peter 1:25). Furthermore, His inspired words cannot be limited to "the originals". If this was the case, it would be impossible for us to refer to anything as "scripture" today since none of the originals exist. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 would be meaningless since it states that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Indeed, there would be a number of problems within the pages of the Bible itself. For example, which of the first (Exodus 31:18) or second (Exodus 34:1) tables of stone that Moses received from God were the inspired originals? In Jeremiah 36, was the first roll the inspired original or the second? Could they both be inspired even though God added some things in the second (Jeremiah 36:32)? When Jesus stood up to read out of Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-20), was He reading out of the actual original written by the hand of Isaiah over 700 years earlier? Was the Ethiopian eunuch reading out of that same original (Acts 8:27-30) in Gaza a few years later? The only tenable answer is that both Jesus and the eunuch had to be reading from copies. Jesus, described as the Word of God (John 1:1, 14; Revelation 19:11-13), made no attempt to correct or point out "errors" in the copy He had. Instead, He referred to it as scripture (Luke 4:21). All of God's pure, inspired words must have come down through copies in order for the word "scripture" to make sense.
Is it possible for all of God's words to be kept through translations into the various languages? Again, let us look at the Bible itself. The New Testament quotes the Old Testament in several places. The OT was written in Hebrew and some Aramaic while the NT was written in Greek. Quotations, of course, would have involved translation. If the NT writers were translating from OT copies they had read or heard, are those quoted portions not inspired and, thus, not scripture? After all, they did not have the "original autographs" and they were not writing in the "original" language. Hopefully, the fallacy in this line of reasoning is plain to see. Another example is Jesus speaking to Paul in the Hebrew tongue (the original - Acts 26:14-15) but Paul writing the revelations in Greek (the translation). As Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, he had the gift to speak many languages (1 Corinthians 14:18) so that he could fulfill his calling to teach and preach the word of God to them. Had anything ever gotten "lost in the translation" through Paul, the Gentiles could have never had any hope of having God's words in their native language. The only other alternative would have been for each Gentile to learn Hebrew and to hear directly from Jesus Himself. Obviously, in order for God to fulfill His promise to keep and preserve all His pure inspired words forever, He must work through translations.
Today, we have all of the pure, perfect, preserved and inspired words of God in the English language. They can be found in the only in the old King James Bible. The KJB has been repeatedly "tried in a furnace of earth" in its four centuries of existence. It has stood against competition from a myriad of subsequent inferior English versions and against relentless attacks from its many detractors - primarily seminary-educated "Bible" scholars. Any other book subjected to such challenges and withering criticism would not be able to endure. The KJB, being the seventh major English translation and the product of seven years of translation work, bears the stamp of God's completed work. It has endured, is still the benchmark against which everything is measured, and has not been replaced as the standard.
A Brief History of the King James Bible”, by Dr. Laurence M. Vance. There were 15 “rules” clearly stated at the outset for this new translation of the Bible. You can see them here -
http://www.av1611.org/kjv/kjvhist.html
Rule Number 14 stated: “14. These translations to be used when they agree better with the Text than the Bishops Bible: Tyndale's, Matthew's, Coverdale's, Whitchurch’s*, Geneva.
* By Whitchurch’s is meant the Great Bible of 1540, which was printed by Edward Whitchurch, one of King Henry VIII’s printers.
That is a total of 6 specific previous English Bibles that (in the sovereignty of God) the 54 King James Bible translators were directed to use and compare for the “purifying” and bringing forth the greatest Bible in history, and the only one still believed today by multiplied thousands of God’s redeemed people to be the complete, inspired and inerrant words of the living God.
The SEVEN stages of purification in the Bible for the English language can be outlined as follows:
1. Tyndale (1525) - William Tyndale was known as the “Father of the English Bible.” He was the first translator to
return to the original languages of Hebrew and Greek.
All of the English versions before Tyndale were translations of a translation, derived from the Vulgate or older Latin versions. William Tyndale was the sole translator of the first printed English New Testament. But Tyndale's New Testament suffered from several bad translations and did not always follow the same Greek texts that underlie the future English Bibles and the Reformation Bibles in numerous foreign languages.
See "Tyndale, the TR or the King James Bible?" - http://brandplucked.webs.com/tyntrorkjb.htm
2. Coverdale (1535) - Produced the first complete printed English Bible. His work consisted primarily of Tyndale’s New Testament and Pentateuch, with the remaining Old Testament books rendered primarily from Luther’s German translation.
3. Matthews Bible (1537) - John Rogers (pseudonym of Thomas Matthews) continued Tyndale’s work while Tyndale was imprisoned in a dungeon. Taverner's bible of 1539 was a minor revision of Matthew's Bible and has been referred to as "indeed a version which had no influence.", and was not used by the King James Bible translators in this purifying process.
4. The Great bible (1538) - also known as the Whitchurch & Cranmer’s Bible, was so named the Great Bible because of its exceptional size. It was the first Bible officially authorized for public use in England’s churches.
5. Geneva (1560) - Theodore Beza, John Knox, William Whittingham and Miles Coverdale labored six years to produce the Geneva Bible. This was the first English Bible translated entirely from the original languages to divide the Bible into numbered chapters and verses. Unfortunately the Geneva Bible had quite a few bad translations in it as well.
See Deficiencies of the Geneva Bible - http://brandplucked.webs.com/deficientgeneva.htm
6. The Bishops Bible (1568) - This Bible was produced under the authority of the established Church of England. It was a different translation than the Geneva Bible, but followed the same Hebrew and Greek texts. However the Bishops' Bible had some real "clunkers" in it.
For example, in Ecclesiastes 11:1 in both the King James Bible and the Geneva Bible we read: "CAST THY BREAD UPON THE WATERS: for thou shalt find it after many days." But the Bishops' Bible actually said: "LAY THY BREAD UPON WETTE FACES, and so shalt thou finde it after many dayes."
7. King James (1611)—The seventh purification of the English Bible.
What has been referred to as The Millenary Petition was the request made to King James by mostly Puritan Reformed ministers that a new translation be made of the English Bible. It was finally agreed that a new translation, true to the underlying Hebrew and Greek tongues, be made which would not include any marginal notes or comments, except for explanations of Greek or Hebrew words and the provision of cross-references.
The King James Bible became the 7th purification of "the words of the LORD" directly from the original languages the King James Bible translators referred to as "the two golden pipes" of Hebrew and Greek.
If you ask why Wycliffe's Bible of 1395 is not included in this list, I believe it is because Wycliffe did not use the original languages of the inspired Hebrew and Greek texts to make his translation, but he used the Latin Vulgate. Wycliffe's Bible was a translation of a translation. It wasn't till we get to Tyndale's New Testament of 1525 that Bible translations began to be made directly from the Hebrew and Greek texts.
The Two Golden Pipes
The King James Bible translators themselves stated in their Preface to the Reader - "If you ask what they had before them, truly it was the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, the Greek of the New. These are the two golden pipes, or rather conduits, where-through the olive branches empty themselves into the gold."
I think it is an interesting "coincidence" to see that in creation events recorded in Genesis chapter One, six times God said “it was good” - Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21 and 25. But the seventh time He said “it was very good” - Genesis 1:31 - "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." We also see that God did Himself did not bring forth the completed creation in a single day, but rather He took six days to progressively bring it to completion and then rested in His finished word on the seventh day. Just another "coincidence", I suppose.
The King James Bible was first published in 1611, a time when there was no set way to spell English words and no strict guidelines for punctuation. By the way, they started work on the King James Bible in 1604 and finished it in 1611. Seven years to bring it to its perfection.
The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place in England between 1350 and 1700. Because English spelling was becoming standardized in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Great Vowel Shift is responsible for many of the peculiarities of English spelling.
Efforts were made among the English-speaking people to set down some rules for punctuation and establish fixed spellings for words. The English language went through a series of rapid changes. When a new standard was stablished, a new edition of the King James Bible was published to bring the spelling and punctuation in line with it. These were different EDITIONS of the King James Bible, not REVISIONS.
Notice how English spelling has changed over the years -
Jon 3:16 Anglo-Saxon gospels circa 1000 A.D. - "God lufode middan-eard swa þt he sealde his ancennendan (sic) sunu. þt nán ne forwurðe þe on hine gelyfð. ac hæbbe þt ece líf"
John 3:16 - Wycliffe 1395 - "For God louede so the world, that he yaf his `oon bigetun sone, that ech man that bileueth in him perische not, but haue euerlastynge lijf."
Tyndale 1525 - "For God so loveth the worlde yt he hath geven his only sonne that none that beleve in him shuld perisshe: but shuld have everlastinge lyfe."
Coverdale 1535 - “For God so loued the worlde, that he gaue his onely sonne, that who so euer beleueth in hi, shulde not perishe, but haue euerlastinge life.”
The Great Bible 1540 - “For God so loue þe worlde, that, he gaue is only begotten sonne, that whosoeuer beleueth in him, shulde not perisshe, but haue euerlastyng lyfe.”
Matthew’s Bible 1549 - “For God so loueth the worlde, þt he hath geuen his only sonne, that none that beleue in him, should perishe: but should haue euerlastinge lyfe.”
Bishops' Bible 1568 - "For God so loued the worlde, that he gaue his only begotten sonne, that whosoeuer beleueth in hym, shoulde not perishe, but haue euerlastyng lyfe."
Geneva Bible 1587 - "For God so loued the worlde, that hee hath giuen his onely begotten Sonne, that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life."
Original 1611 - "For God so loued ye world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life."
1769 King James Bible - "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."
The TEXT has not changed; the spelling of English words has. The same can be said for the Hebrew and Greek texts themselves; they are NOT MODERN Hebrew and Greek. No modern day Jew or Greek speaks or writes using the same words or spelling found in the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.
Even the American Bible Society, no friend to the King James Bible, had this to say about the "revisions" of the King James Bible. The American Bible Society wrote, "The English Bible, as left by the translators (of 1611), has come down to us unaltered in respect to its text..." They further stated, "With the exception of typographical errors and changes required by the progress of orthography in the English language, the text of our present Bibles remains unchanged, and without variation from the original copy as left by the translators" (Committee on Versions to the Board of Managers, American Bible Society, 1852).
For more information and examples of these "changes" made in the King James Bible see The Printing Errors Ploy - http://brandplucked.webs.com/printingerrors.htm
As the King James Bible translators themselves wrote in their Preface: “Truly, good Christian reader, we never thought, from the beginning, that we should need to make a new translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one; but TO MAKE A GOOD ONE BETTER, or OUT OF MANY GOOD ONES ONE PRINCIPAL GOOD ONE, NOT JUSTLY TO BE EXCEPTED AGAINST that hath been our endeavour, that our mark."
The King James Translators also wrote: "Nothing is begun and perfected at the same time, and the later thoughts are the thoughts to be the wiser: so if we build upon their foundation that went before us, and being holpen by their labors, do endeavor to make better which they left so good...if they were alive would thank us...the same will shine as gold more brightly, being rubbed and polished."
The King James Bible believer is the only one today who consistently, historically and logically stands for the doctrinal truths that God has kept His promises to preserve His inspired words and that there really exists such a thing as a complete, inerrant and 100% true Holy Bible.
Remember, God says: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (1 Corinthians 1:19-20)
Psalms 12:6 King James Bible - "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, PURIFIED SEVEN TIMES."
All of grace, believing the Book - the Authorized King James Holy Bible 1611. Accept no substitutes.
As any student of English Bible history knows, the Authorized Version of 1611 was not the first Bible to be translated into English. But even though hundreds of complete Bibles, New Testaments, and Scripture portions have been translated into English since 1611, it is obvious that the Authorized Version is the last English Bible; that is, the last English Bible that God "authorized."
Because the Authorized Version is the "last" English Bible, and because its defenders believe it to contain the very words of God, various schemes have been contrived to make the English Bibles up to and including the Authorized Version fit the description in Psalm 12:6 of the words of the Lord being "purified seven times." The problem is that the Authorized Version is not the seventh English Bible -- it is the tenth one.
Although there were some attempts during the Old and Middle English period to translate portions of the Bible into English, the first complete Bible or New Testament in English did not appear until the fourteenth century.
John Wycliffe (c.1320-1384) is credited with being the first to translate the entire Bible into English. It is to be remembered that no Greek or Hebrew texts, versions, or editions were yet fabricated. Wycliffe did his translating primarily from the only Bible then in use: the Latin Vulgate. He is often called the "Morning Star of the Reformation" for his opposition to ecclesiastical abuses and the Papacy. Wycliffe's New Testament translation was completed in 1380, and the entire Bible in 1382.
William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536) has the distinction of being the first to translate the New Testament from Greek into English. He early distinguished himself as a scholar both at Cambridge and Oxford, and was fluent in several languages. Tyndale soon advanced both his desire and his demise, as seen in his reply to a critic: "I defy the pope and all his laws; if God spare my life, ere many years I will cause the boy that driveth the plough in England to know more of the Scriptures than thou doest." The Bible was still forbidden in the vernacular, so after settling in London for several months while attempting to gain approval for his translation efforts, Tyndale concluded: "Not only that there was no room in my lord of Londons palace to translate the New Testament, but also that there was no place to do it in all England, as experience doth now openly declare."
Accordingly, Tyndale left England in 1524 and completed his translation of the New Testament in Germany. The moving factor in his translation of the New Testament was that he "perceived by experience, how that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order and meaning of the text." The printing of his New Testament was completed in Worms and smuggled into England, where it was an instant success. Tyndale then turned his attention to the Old Testament. He never finished it, however, for on May 21, 1535, Tyndale was treacherously kidnaped and imprisoned in Belgium. On October 6, 1536, he was tried as a heretic and condemned to death. He was strangled and burned, but not before he uttered the immortal prayer of "Lord, open the King of England's eyes."
Although Tyndale's English Bible was the first to be translated directly from the original languages, it was just the New Testament. It was Myles Coverdale (1488-1569) who was the first to publish a complete English Bible. In 1533, King Henry VIII established the Church of England, and, in 1534, the Upper House of Convocation of Canterbury petitioned King Henry to decree "that the holy scripture should be translated into the vulgar English tongue by certain good learned men, to be nominated by His Majesty, and should be delivered to the people for their instruction." Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540) andArchbishop Cranmer (1489-1556) were likewise convinced of the desirability of having the Bible translated into English. Coverdale's Bible was printed in October of 1535. He based his work on the Zurich Bible of Zwingli, the Vulgate, the Latin text of Paginius, Luther's Bible, and the previous work of William Tyndale, especially in the New Testament.
Although Coverdale's second edition of 1537 contained the license of the king, the first Bible to obtain such license was published earlier the same year. The Matthew Bible was more of a revision than a translation. Thomas Matthew was just a pseudonym for John Rogers (c. 1500-1555), a friend of Tyndale, to whom he had turned over his unpublished manuscripts on the translation of the Old Testament. Rogers used Tyndale's New Testament and the completed parts of his Old Testament. For the rest of the Bible, he relied on Coverdale. The whole of this material was slightly revised and accompanied by introductions and chapter summaries. Cranmer commented in a letter to Cromwell that he liked it "better than any other translation heretofore made." And so it happened that Tyndale's translation, which was proscribed just a few years earlier, was circulating with the King's permission and authority both in the Coverdale and Matthew Bibles.
Although the Coverdale and Matthew Bibles were "set forth with the King's most gracious license," the Great Bible was the first "authorized" Bible. Cromwell delegated to Myles Coverdale the work of revising the Matthew Bible and its controversial notes. In 1538, an injunction by Cromwell directed the clergy to provide "one book of the bible of the largest volume in English, and the same set up in some convenient place within the said church that ye have care of, whereas your parishioners may most commodiously resort to the same and read it." The completed Bible appeared in April of 1539. Although called the Great Bible because of its large size, it was referred to by several other designations as well. It was called the Cromwell Bible, since he did the most to prepare for its publication. It was also termed the Cranmer Bible, after the often reprinted preface by Cranmer beginning with the 1540 second edition. Several editions were printed by Whitechurch, and hence it was also labeled the Whitechurch Bible. In accordance with Cromwell's injunction, copies of the Great Bible were placed in every church. This led to it being called the Chained Bible, since it was chained in "some convenient place within the said church."
At the same time as Coverdale was preparing the Great Bible, Richard Taverner (1505-1577) undertook an independent revision of Matthew's Bible. It appeared under the title of: "The Most Sacred Bible whiche is the holy scripture, conteyning the old and new testament, translated into English, and newly recognized with great diligence after most faythful exemplars by Rychard Taverner." He was a competent Greek scholar and made some slight changes in the text and notes of the Matthew Bible. His work was eclipsed by the Great Bible and had but minor influence on later translations.
During the reign of the Catholic queen, Mary Tudor (1553-1558), many English Reformers, among them Myles Coverdale, fled to Geneva. It was here in 1557 that William Whittingham(1524-1579), the brother-in-law of John Calvin, and successor of John Knox at the English church in Geneva, translated the New Testament in what was to become the Geneva Bible. When Elizabeth, the sister of Mary, assumed the throne in 1558, many exiles returned to England. But Whittingham and some others remained in Geneva and continued to work on a more comprehensive and complete revision of the entire Bible that superseded the 1557 New Testament -- the Geneva Bible of 1560.
The superiority of the Geneva Bible over the Great Bible was readily apparent. It was the notes, however, that made it unacceptable for official use in England. Archbishop Matthew Parker soon took steps to make a revision of the Great Bible that would replace both it and the Geneva Bible. The Bible was divided into parts and distributed to scholars for revision. Parker served as the editor and most of his revisors were bishops, hence the Bishops' Bible. The first Bible to be translated by a committee, it was published in 1568.
The Douay-Rheims Bible was the first Roman Catholic translation of the Bible in English. When English Romanists fled England for the Continent under the reign of Elizabeth, many settled in France. In 1568, an English college was established by William Allen (1532-1594) at Douay. The college moved for a time to Rheims in 1578 under Richard Bristow (1538-1581). It was here that Gregory Martin (d. 1582) began translating the Bible into English from the Latin Vulgate. This was precipitated by Allen's recognition that Catholics had an unfair disadvantage compared with Bible-reading Protestants because of their use of Latin and the fact that "all the English versions are most corrupt." The Catholic New Testament was finished in 1582, but the complete Old Testament did not appear until 1610.
After the death of Elizabeth in 1603, James I, who was at that time James VI of Scotland, became the king of England. One of the first things done by the new king was the calling of the Hampton Court Conference in January of 1604 "for the hearing, and for the determining, things pretended to be amiss in the church." Here were assembled bishops, clergyman, and professors, along with four Puritan divines, to consider the complaints of the Puritans. Although Bible revision was not on the agenda, the Puritan president of Corpus Christi College, John Reynolds, "moved his Majesty, that there might be a new translation of the Bible, because those which were allowed in the reigns of Henry the eighth, and Edward the sixth, were corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the Original."
The next step was the actual selection of the men who were to perform the work. In July of 1604, James wrote to Bishop Bancroft that he had "appointed certain learned men, to the number of four and fifty, for the translating of the Bible." Although fifty-four men were nominated, only forty-seven were known to have taken part in the work of translation. The completed Bible, known as the King James Version or the Authorized Version, was issued in 1611, and remains the Bible read, preached, believed, and acknowledged as the authority by all Bible believers today.
Wycliffe, Tyndale, Coverdale, Matthew, Great, Taverner, Geneva, Bishops', Douay-Rheims, and King James -- ten English Bibles. As mentioned previously, various schemes have been contrived to make the English Bibles up to and including the Authorized Version fit the description in Psalm 12:6 of the words of the Lord being "purified seven times." The problem with this noble goal is that it entails the elimination of three versions. But which three? Wycliffe's Bible is sometimes omitted because it was translated from the Latin instead of the original Hebrew and Greek. Tyndale's Bible is sometimes omitted because it was not a complete Bible -- just a New Testament and portions of the Old Testament. Coverdale's and Matthew's Bibles could conceivably be omitted because they rely so much on Tyndale. Taverner's Bible is sometimes omitted because it was a revision of Matthew's Bible and had little influence on later English versions. The Geneva Bible could conceivably be omitted because King James considered it to be the worst of the English versions. The Douay-Rheims, because it is a Roman Catholic version, is always omitted from the list.
This leaves the Great Bible, the Bishops' Bible, and the King James Bible -- three out of the ten. It appears that Bible believers have manipulated the history of the English Bible to prove a bogus theory.
Or have they?
The answer is yes and no. As will presently be proved, the theory is not bogus at all -- even if some zealous brethren have been careless in the way they went about proving it.
The definitive list of Bibles that makes the Authorized Version the seventh Bible, thus fitting the description in Psalm 12:6 of the words of the Lord being "purified seven times," is not to be found in the opinions of the many writers on the history of the English Bible. To the contrary, the definitive list is to be found in the often-overlooked details concerning the translating of the Authorized Version.
To begin with, the translators of the Authorized Version did acknowledge that they had a multitude of sources from which to draw from: "Neither did we think much to consult the Translators or Commentators, Chaldee, Hebrew, Syrian, Greek, or Latin, no nor the Spanish, French, Italian, or Dutch." The Greek editions of Erasmus, Stephanus, and Beza were all accessible, as were the Complutensian and Antwerp Polyglots, and the Latin translations of Pagninus, Tremellius, and Beza. What we want, however, is a reference to English Bibles.
The translators also acknowledged that they had at their disposal all the previous English translations of the sixteenth century: "We are so far off from condemning any of their labors that travailed before us in this kind, either in this land or beyond sea, either in King Henry's time, or King Edward's (if there were any translation, or correction of a translation in his time) or Queen Elizabeth's of everrenowned memory, that we acknowledge them to have been raised up of God, for the building and furnishing of his Church, and that they deserve to be had of us and of posterity in everlasting remembrance." Although this statement of the translators refers to English Bibles, it is not specific as to exactly which versions.
The information we need is to be found, not in the translators' "The Epistle Dedicatory" or their "The Translators to the Reader," but in the "Rules to be Observed in the Translation of the Bible." These general rules, fifteen in number, were advanced for the guidance of the translators. The first and fourteenth, because they directly relate to the subject at hand, are here given in full: "1. The ordinary Bible read in the Church, commonly called the Bishops Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the Truth of the original will permit." "14. These translations to be used when they agree better with the Text than the Bishops Bible: Tindoll's, Matthews, Coverdale's, Whitchurch's, Geneva."
And thus we have our answer. The seven English versions that make the English Bibles up to and including the Authorized Version fit the description in Psalm 12:6 of the words of the Lord being "purified seven times" are Tyndale's, Matthew's, Coverdale's, the Great Bible (printed by Whitechurch), the Geneva Bible, the Bishops' Bible, and the King James Bible.
The Wycliffe, Taverner, and Douay-Rheims Bibles, whatever merits any of them may have, are not part of the purified line God "authorized," of which the King James Authorized Version is God's last one -- purified seven times.
One of the key verses that assures us that God does preserve His Word is Psalm 12:7, and not surprisingly, it is perverted by most of the modern versions. This mistranslation is often a product of dishonesty, since it is obvious that modern version producers would not want this verse to be known, but it is also a product of incompetence with the Hebrew. It is, above all, an indication of a shocking lack of spiritual discernment. The following examples will give a sampling, but the NRSV, NLT, NLV, Moffat's, and many others reproduce the same error. The ASV, got the verse right, which is surprising since so many of the modern version supporters who claim that the ASV is superior argue for the perverted RSV translation of this verse. The NKJV, NWT, and Amplified Bible also preserved this verse, but ignored it anyway.
RSV: Do thou, O LORD, protect us, guard us ever from this generation.
NIV: O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever.
NAB (misnumbered as 8): You, O Lord, will keep us and preserve us always from this generation.
Living Bible: O Lord, we know that you will forever preserve your own from the reach of evil men.
This mistake does have an explanation, since the form in question, which is found in "titserenu" (thou shalt preserve them) does resemble the imperfect (or future for those who follow the system of Gesenius), with a first person plural pronoun attached, but that is not what it is. This -nu suffix is what is known as a nûn epenthetic or nûn demonstrative (also called nûn energeticum by some grammarians such as Davidson). The translators that actually used the Hebrew text, such as those of the RSV, were quite familiar with this form, as I will demonstrate later. I will let the grammar of Gesenius describe this form, since it would be hard to improve upon it.
thus the central declaration of the Psalm. Ross summarizes Hebrew scholarship when he says, “All commentators agree that this oracle is the focal point of the psalm.” [4] It is likely that this oracle would have been spoken by a priest or prophet in the midst of the singing of the psalm. [5] That is, the singing would be interrupted by a priest or prophet who would stand and echo the divine promise found in verse 5. This sort of “prophetic oracular reading” of a particular declaration of God was common in the psalms of Israelite worship, as in Psalm 46:10Open in Logos Bible Software (if available), where the oracle breaks in with the assurance of God. The same can be seen in Psalm 60, 81, and 95. Delitzsch notes of this central declaration, “The Psalm is a ring and this central oracle is its jewel.” [6]
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