the myth of the inerrant king james bible

[sven]

as i am from germany, its pretty interesting for me, about the origin of the myth, that the king james bible is inerrant? i hope i offend nobody calling it a myth, but i think it is.

what are the arguments to hold this opinion? what do they say about translations in foreign languages, Luthers translation for example differs from the KJV quite a lot, its missing the Comma Johanneum for example, it was added to the textus receptus after Luthers translation.

in germany nobody seriously claims a specific translation to be inerrant, but here are also some people who say, only the textus receptus is Gods word and many people just favor the Luther bible, but the Luther bible has been revised a lot of times and nobody started that trouble. in germany at least many people favor the Elberfelder/Darby bible.

why this cult about the KJV, when did it start? and something that interests me, which bible read american catholics? i´ve never read a special catholic bible.

[WhiteWings]

Look at the many revisions of the KJV...
I think certain doctrines are so heavily based on it there is no way back.

I also think to be more correct you should write KJV-1611 because the NKJV gets a lot of critisism too.
It removed the word hell several times. Hell seems the most important thing for many KJV fans.
Sometimes I think they find hell more important than Jesus Himself.... :dontknow:

[sven]

yeah that might be a reason, what do KJV only people think about Luther?

i wonder why they doesnt prefer the old wycliffe bible from 1395

Sothely whanne hise fre children weren gaderid to gidere, that thei schulden peese the sorewe of the fadir, he nolde take counfort, but seide, Y schal go doun in to helle, and schal biweile my sone.

in this bible even Jacob expected to go to hell, are they so ignorant against all facts?

[sven]

i found 7 obvious mistakes in the KJV, maybe it helps someone when discussing:

1. Wrong name of God

Jehovah isn´t the proper Name, as far as i know it were Catholics priests in the middle-ages who believed Jehovah is the proper name of God. Jehovah occurs 4 times in the KJV, Exodus 6,3; Psalm 83,18; Isaia 12,2; Isaia 26,4

2. The translators of the KJV seems to have believed in Unicorns

for example Isaia 34,7:
And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

It seems the KJV is translated form the Vulgata:

et descendent unicornes cum eis et tauri cum potentibus inebriabitur terra eorum sanguine et humus eorum adipe pinguium

3. The Myth of Lucifer

Isaia 14,2
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Not a single German translation has Lucifer here, once again it seems the KJV is translated from the latin Vulgata

quomodo cecidisti de caelo lucifer qui mane oriebaris corruisti in terram qui vulnerabas gentes

but Lucifer is used in the Vulgata also were it hasn´t any connection with the devil,
it just means morning star.

4. Acts 20,7

"first day of the weak" instead of Sabbath, Sabbath is the 7th day of the week

And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

now look other translations, the Concordant Literal:

Now on one of the sabbaths, at our having gathered to break bread, Paul argued with them, being about to be off on the morrow. Besides, he prolonged the word unto midnight.

the Vulgata:

in una autem sabbati cum convenissemus ad frangendum panem Paulus disputabat eis profecturus in crastinum protraxitque sermonem usque in mediam noctem

Luther 1545

AVff einen Sabbath aber / da die Juenger zusamen kamen / das Brot zu brechen / prediget jnen Paulus / vnd wolte des andern tages ausreisen / vnd verzoch das wort bis zu mitternacht.

the Textus receptus greek text:

εν δε τη μια των σαββατων συνηγμενων των μαθητων του κλασαι αρτον ο παυλος διελεγετο αυτοις μελλων εξιεναι τη επαυριον παρετεινεν τε τον λογον μεχρι μεσονυκτιου

5. the faked Comma Johanneum

1. John 5,7
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.  [For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.] And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

The part in brackets is NOT in the Byzantine Text
It is NOT in any old greek manuscript as far is i know
It was NOT IN THE TEXTUS RECEPTUS when Luther translated the bible, it was added to the textus receptus later from the Vulgate, when Luthers translation was already completed.

Luther 1545:

Dieser ists / der da kompt / mit Wasser vnd blut / Jhesus Christus / Nicht mit wasser alleine / sondern mit wasser vnd blut. Vnd der Geist ists / der da zeuget / das Geist warheit ist. [comma johanneum, not in the textus receptus at this time]
Denn drey sind die da zeugen auff Erden / Der Geist vnd das Wasser / vnd das Blut / vnd die drey sind beysamen.

6. The last chapters of the revelation

have been translated from the vulgate into greek in the textus receptus, so neither the TR nor the KJV are inerrant.

7. the apocrypha

they were in the 1611 edition of the KJV, so if the KJV is inerrant, why deleting Gods word?

maybe it helped somebody, i love to compare bibles, the concordant literal is the best i think

[WhiteWings]

2. The translators of the KJV seems to have believed in Unicorns

Seems to be hard to translate because the other translations translate as: oxen, mighty one, unicorn, buffalo, etc

Isaia 14,2
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst
it just means morning star.

lucis-ferre => light-bringer