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King James Version

King James Version

Recommendations

Recommendations

Introduction:

Introduction:

Why I Recommend These

Why I Recommend These

All King James Ver­sion bibles are just alike, aren’t they?  After all, it remains unchanged since 1611, right?  WRONG!

King James Ver­sion bibles have been altered and edited since the sec­ond print­ing!  More sig­nif­i­cantly, they have been heavily abridged, to the point that they are no longer com­pa­ra­ble (in con­tent) to the ear­li­est edi­tions!  I will divide the King James Ver­sion into seven divi­sions, which will show just how adul­ter­ated this bible has become.  With the excep­tion of the Apoc­rypha — the impor­tance of which is sub­jec­tive — these sec­tions have been arranged in order of great­est to least impor­tance.

  1. Old Testament and New Testament — included in all edi­tions, makes up 85% of the total Scrip­tural text.
  2. Apocrypha — makes up 15% of the total Scrip­tural text.  Omit­ted from nearly every mod­ern edi­tion.
  3. Introductory Text — this includes the inval­u­a­ble fore­word, “The Trans­la­tors to the Reader”, as well as the ded­i­ca­tion to King James.  This is only rarely included in mod­ern edi­tions.
  4. Marginal Notes — con­sid­ered neces­sary by the trans­la­tors, these include alter­nate pos­si­ble read­ings (i.e. alter­nate trans­la­tions) for ambig­u­ous pas­sages.  Omit­ted from nearly every mod­ern edi­tion.
  5. Cross References — included by the trans­la­tors, these are nor­mally omit­ted, though fre­quently mod­ern edi­tions replace them with alter­nate cross ref­er­ences of the pub­lish­er’s cre­a­tion.
  6. Chapter Headings — a brief table of con­tents pre­ced­ing each chap­ter.  Use­ful only as an aid in locat­ing spe­ci­fic pas­sages of Scrip­ture, they are omit­ted from nearly every mod­ern edi­tion.
  7. Additional Front Matter — this group­ing includes a year-long read­ing sched­ule, bib­lical gene­al­o­gical charts, maps and addi­tional con­tent.  This mate­rial is inter­est­ing to see, but is of lit­tle sig­nif­i­cance to a stu­dent of the bible.

Any devoted stu­dent of the bible will want their King James Ver­sion bible to include, at min­i­mum, sec­tions 1, 3 and 4.  These, in my opin­ion, are essen­tial for the suc­cess­ful study of the King James Ver­sion.  Sec­tions 6 and 7 are of lit­tle impor­tance, and the impor­tance of sec­tions 2 and 5 is a very sub­jec­tive mat­ter.  I always insist on sec­tion 2, but some deem this sec­tion unnec­es­sary.

Now, why my rec­om­men­da­tions:  all of the below include sec­tions 1, 2 and 3.  I do not know of any other edi­tions avail­a­ble with even this min­i­mal con­tent.  Many of these rec­om­mended also include 4, a few include 5 and 6, and only two include 7.  These edi­tions are, in other words, all of the most nearly com­plete King James Ver­sion bibles avail­a­ble today.

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would like to make a donation to support this site,
If you are hav­ing prob­lems with the but­ton above, please e-mail your com­ments to email@BibleSelector.com.

Contents of Recommended Editions

Contents of Recommended Editions

Name Text Used Apoc- rypha Intro Text Marginal Notes Cross Ref- erences Amazon “Look Inside”? Additional Samples
Name Text Used Apoc- rypha Intro Text Marginal Notes Cross Ref- erences Amazon “Look Inside”? Additional Samples
New Cambridge Paragraph Bible Original Trans­lation YES YES 1611 and 1769 NO YES
Penguin Classics Bible Original Trans­lation YES YES NO NO Yes NO
Oxford World’s Classics Bible (1998) 1769 “Stand­ard Text” YES YES NO NO Yes NO
Oxford World’s Classics Bible (2008 Reissue) 1769 “Stand­ard Text” YES YES NO NO Yes NO
KJV Lectern Bible, Goatskin 1769 “Stand­ard Text” YES YES NO NO NO NO
KJV Lectern Bible, Imitation Leather 1769 “Stand­ard Text” YES YES NO NO NO NO
King James Version 1611 Bible Deluxe Edition 1611 YES YES 1611 1611 NO NO
King James Version 1611 Bible Brown Leather Edition 1611 YES YES 1611 1611 NO NO
King James Version 1611 Bible Black Leather Edition 1611 YES YES 1611 1611 NO NO
King James Version 1611 Bible Burgundy Leather Edition 1611 YES YES 1611 1611 NO NO
King James Version 1611 Bible Brown Bonded Leather Edition 1611 YES YES 1611 1611 NO NO
King James Version 1611 Bible Hardcover Edition 1611 YES YES 1611 1611 NO NO
King James Version 1611 Facsimile Regular Edition 1611 YES YES 1611 1611 NO 1611 Scan
King James Version 1611 Facsimile Deluxe Edition 1611 YES YES 1611 1611 NO 1611 Scan
If you have questions, corrections, suggestions, or
would like to make a donation to support this site,
If you are hav­ing prob­lems with the but­ton above, please e-mail your com­ments to email@BibleSelector.com.

Links, Additional Details

Links, Additional Details

and Comments

and Comments

Name Link Additional Details Comments
Name Link Additional Details Comments
New Cambridge Paragraph Bible This edi­tion includes some changes to the ori­gi­nal King James Ver­sion which some may find objec­tion­a­ble.  Spel­ling is mod­ern­ized, and (in a very few ins­tances) some word­ing as well, but not thou and shalt.  Exam­ples of mod­ern­ized word­ing are show (ori­gi­nally shew) and spoke (ori­gi­nally spake).  Other differences:  quo­ta­tion marks are added and there is no italic text (indi­cat­ing added words).  It is unfor­tu­nate that the ital­ics are not included.  Text is in par­a­graph form rather than single-verse form (com­pare text). Finally, the chap­ter head­ings are absent.  Web Site This is a schol­arly attempt to repro­duce the actual trans­la­tion — not any spe­cific print­ing.  Except­ing the mod­ern­ized spel­ling, this is almost cer­tainly the most accu­rate print­ing ever of the actual trans­la­tion of the King James Ver­sion bible.  Unfor­tu­nately, this very expen­sive edi­tion fails to include the cross ref­er­ences con­tained in the ori­gi­nal.
Penguin Classics Bible Iden­ti­cal in con­tent to the above excel­lent edi­tion except for the mis­sing mar­ginal notes.  Web Site Much cheaper than the “deluxe” edi­tion above, but the lack of mar­ginal notes makes this sig­nif­i­cantly less val­u­a­ble.
Oxford World’s Classics Bible (1998) This includes the com­plete “Stand­ard Text” (also known as the Oxford Revi­sion of 1769).  Note that the updated mar­ginal notes and cross ref­er­ences that were a part of the Oxford Revi­sion are not included in this edi­tion, nor can I find any edi­tion which includes both of these.  (The New Cam­bridge Par­a­graph Bible includes the 1769 mar­ginal notes, but not the cross ref­er­ences.)  Web Site Exten­sive “book intro­duc­tions” for each book are placed in the appen­dix.  I own this edi­tion.  It is a well-con­structed and very afford­a­ble paper­back.  Unfor­tu­nately, as with even the best paper­backs, fre­quent use will result in a dog-eared cover.  The bind­ing, how­ever, has stood up well.
Oxford World’s Classics Bible (2008 Reissue) Web Site As a re-issue of the above edi­tion, I expect this to be iden­ti­cal in qual­ity, and it is iden­ti­cal in con­tent.
KJV Lectern Bible, Goatskin Lectern Bible, Goatskin Lec­tern Bible:  12.9 x 10.7 x 4.4 inches!  Web Site This is the top-of-the-line Lec­tern Bible.  As such, it is large, built to last, to be seen and to be easily read (large print).  It is also quite expen­sive.
KJV Lectern Bible, Imitation Leather Lectern Bible, Imitation Leather Lectern Bible:  12.9 x 10.7 x 4.4 inches! Web Site This is intended as the least-expen­sive Cam­bridge Lec­tern Bible.  The only dif­fer­ence between this and the above is the imi­ta­tion leather cover.  If you’re going to spend this kind of money, why not get the gen­u­ine leather cover edi­tion above?
King James Version 1611 Bible Deluxe Edition This is a pseu­do-fac­sim­ile reprint­ing of the com­plete first edi­tion 1611 King James Ver­sion.  The words actu­ally appear in the same loca­tion on each page as they did in the ori­gi­nal print­ing!  Spel­ling and punc­tu­a­tion are iden­ti­cal with the first edi­tion, but text is in the more read­a­ble Roman font rather than the Ger­manic font used in the ori­gi­nal.  This edi­tion — and its com­pan­ions below — are the only afford­a­ble exam­ples I know includ­ing all of the sig­nif­i­cant con­tent of the King James Ver­sion, includ­ing both mar­ginal notes and cross ref­er­ences.  Mis­sing are the incon­se­quen­tial gene­al­o­gical charts, map index and the maps them­selves, all con­tent appear­ing after the Table of Con­tents but before Gen­e­sis.  Web Site The spel­ling in this edi­tion is iden­ti­cal to that used in the ori­gi­nal 1611 edi­tion, which is not the same as in the “Stand­ard Text”.  At first, this will cause read­ers some dif­fi­culty (but only at first).  Once you have mas­tered the trans­po­si­tion of u and v, and of i and j, you will likely find it just as easy to read as the “Stand­ard Text”.  Com­pare text.
King James Version 1611 Bible Brown Leather Edition Iden­tical to the above in terms of con­tent.  Web Site Genuine Leather.  Make sure to read the com­ments about spel­ling.
King James Version 1611 Bible Black Leather Edition Iden­tical to the above in terms of con­tent.  Web Site Genuine Leather.  Make sure to read the com­ments about spel­ling.
King James Version 1611 Bible Burgundy Leather Edition Iden­tical to the above in terms of con­tent.  Web Site Genuine Leather.  Make sure to read the com­ments about spel­ling.
King James Version 1611 Bible Brown Bonded Leather Edition Iden­tical to the above in terms of con­tent.  Web Site Make sure to read the com­ments about spel­ling.
King James Version 1611 Bible Hardcover Edition Identical to the above in terms of con­tent. This least-ex­pen­sive 1611 edi­tion is appar­ently out of print, and it is dif­fi­cult to find.  My copy was actu­ally sto­len!  Con­sid­er­ing the short time I had it, I found the con­struc­tion to be quite good.  Make sure to read the com­ments about spel­ling.
King James Version 1611 Facsimile Regular Edition KJV 1611 Facsimile Regular Edition This is a near-fac­sim­ile of the first edi­tion 1611 King James Ver­sion.  The web site is no longer avail­a­ble, but I am 95% cer­tain that this is iden­ti­cal with the “Reg­u­lar Edi­tion” described here.  All web sites other than Ama­zon describe this edi­tion (same ISBN) as black bonded leather, not red.  The huge “Lec­tern” size (11.2 x 9 x 3.5) is actu­ally smal­ler than the ori­gi­nal first edi­tion, but this includes the entire con­tents, not included in any of the above mod­ern edi­tions.  A more exact rep­lica is avail­a­ble below, com­plete with wooden cov­ers! The price is rel­a­tively exor­bi­tant — not for what you get, but con­sid­er­ing that you can get all of the impor­tant con­tent in the pseu­do-fac­sim­ile edi­tions above.  Per­son­ally, I don’t know why some­one would want this, other than to show off a (nearly) actual 1611 King James Ver­sion bible to those who don’t really have any idea what was included in that edi­tion.  I have lit­tle doubt that most King James Ver­sion fans would be not only impressed, but shocked at what their favor­ite bible has been reduced to.  Note that this makes use of the ori­gi­nal (more dif­fi­cult to read) Ger­manic font.
King James Version 1611 Facsimile Deluxe Edition This is a true fac­sim­ile of the first edi­tion 1611 King James Ver­sion.  The pub­lish­er’s web site is no longer avail­a­ble, but details can be seen under “The Deluxe Full Size Lim­ited Edi­tion” described here.  The gigan­tic size (17.5 x 12 x 5.5) is iden­ti­cal to the ori­gi­nal first edi­tion.  This edi­tion even includes leather-clad wooden cov­ers! The price of the near-fac­sim­ile above was exor­bi­tant; this is nearly $2,000!  How­ever, it is quite pos­sible that this is a good invest­ment, and it can be expected to dou­ble in value over the next 20 years — assum­ing that your copy remains in pris­tine con­di­tion!  You could prob­a­bly charge your KJV-lov­ing friends just to view this mas­sive vol­ume, and cer­tainly you could charge for its use.  Yes, it’s that impres­sive — and it costs like it.
If you have questions, corrections, suggestions, or
would like to make a donation to support this site,
If you are hav­ing prob­lems with the but­ton above, please e-mail your com­ments to email@BibleSelector.com.

Text Comparison of Editions

Text Comparison of Editions

Genesis Chapter 1:  Chapter Beginning to Verse 8

What you should notice:

New Cambridge Paragraph Bible Oxford World Classics Bible King James Ver­sion 1611 Bible
CHAP. I.
I The cre­a­tion of Heau­en and Earth, 3 of the light, 6 of the fir­ma­ment, 9 of the earth ſep­a­rat­ed from the wa­ters, II and made fruit­full, I4 of the Sunne, Moone, and Starres, 20 of fiſh and fowle, 24 of beaſts and cat­tell, 26 of Man in the Im­age of God. 29 Al­ſo the ap­point­ment of food.
1
In the be­gin­ning God cre­at­ed the heav­en and the earth.  2And the earth was with­out form, and void, and dark­ness was up­on the face of the deep.  And the Spir­it of God moved upon the face of the wa­ters.  3And God said, ‘Let there be light’:  and there was light.  4And God saw the light, that it was good:  and God di­vid­ed the light from the dark­ness.  5And God called the light Day, and the dark­ness he called Night.  And the eve­ning and the morn­ing were the first day.

6And God said, ‘Let there be a fir­ma­ment in the midst of the wa­ters, and let it di­vide the wa­ters from the wa­ters’.  7And God made the fir­ma­ment, and di­vid­ed the wa­ters which were un­der the fir­ma­ment from the wa­ters which were above the fir­ma­ment:  and it was so.  8And God called the fir­ma­ment Heav­en.  And the eve­ning and the morn­ing were the sec­ond day.

I
N the be­gin­ning God cre­at­ed the heav­en and the earth.
2 And the earth was with­out form, and void; and dark­ness was up­on the face of the deep.  And the Spir­it of God moved upon the face of the wa­ters.
3 And God said, Let there be light:  and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good:  and God di­vid­ed the light from the dark­ness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the dark­ness he called Night.  And the eve­ning and the morn­ing were the first day.
6 ¶ And God said, Let there be a fir­ma­ment in the midst of the wa­ters, and let it di­vide the wa­ters from the wa­ters.
7 And God made the fir­ma­ment, and di­vid­ed the wa­ters which were un­der the fir­ma­ment from the wa­ters which were above the fir­ma­ment:  and it was so.
8 And God called the fir­ma­ment Heav­en.  And the eve­ning and the morn­ing were the sec­ond day.
I
N* the be­gin­ning God cre­at­ed the Heau­en , and the Earth.
  2 And the earth was with­out forme , and voyd; and darke­neſſe was vpon the face of the deepe : and the Spir­it of God mooued vp­on the face of the wa­ters.
  3 And God ſaid,* Let there be light : and there was light.
  4 And God ſaw the light, that it was good : and God di­uid­ed † the light from the darke­neſſe.
  5 And God called the light, Day, and the dark­neſſe he called Night: † and the eue­ning and the morn­ing were the firſt day.
  6 ¶ And God ſaid, * Let there be a † fir­ma­ment in the midſt of the wa­ters : and let it di­uide the wa­ters from the wa­ters.
  7And God made the fir­ma­ment; and di­uid­ed the wa­ters, which were vn­der the fir­ma­ment from the wa­ters, which were aboue the fir­ma­ment: and it was ſo.
  8And God called the *fir­ma­ment, Heau­en : and the eue­ning and the morn­ing were the ſec­ond day.

Genesis Chapter 2 Verses 20-23

What you should notice:

New Cambridge Paragraph Bible Oxford World Classics Bible King James Ver­sion 1611 Bible
19And out of the ground the Lord God formed eve­ry beast of the field, and eve­ry fowl of the air, and brought them un­to Ad­am to see what he would call them: and whatso­ev­er Ad­am called eve­ry liv­ing crea­ture, that was the name there­of.  20And Ad­am gave names to all cat­tle, and to the fowl of the air, and to eve­ry beast of the field; but for Ad­am there was not found a help meet for him.  21And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Ad­am, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in stead there­of.  22And the rib which the Lord God had tak­en from man, made he a wom­an, and brought her un­to the man.  23And Ad­am said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Wom­an, be­cause she was tak­en out of Man. 19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed eve­ry beast of the field, and eve­ry fowl of the air, and brought them un­to Ad­am to see what he would call them : and whatso­ev­er Ad­am called eve­ry liv­ing crea­ture, that was the name there­of.
20 And Ad­am gave names to all cat­tle, and to the fowl of the air, and to eve­ry beast of the field; but for Ad­am there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Ad­am, and he slept : and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead there­of.
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had tak­en from man, made he a wom­an, and brought her un­to the man.
23 And Ad­am said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called Wom­an, be­cause she was tak­en out of Man. 		  19 And out of ye ground the LORD God formed eue­ry beaſt of the field, and eue­ry foule of the aire, and brought them vn­to || Ad­am , to ſee what he would call them : and whatſo­eu­er Ad­am called eue­ry liu­ing crea­ture,that was the name there­of.
  20 And Ad­am † gaue names to all cat­tell,and to the foule of the aire,and to eve­ry beaſt of the fielde : but for Ad­am there was not found an helpe meete for him.
  21 And the LORD God cauſed a deepe ſleepe to fall vpon Ad­am, and hee ſlept; and he tooke one of his ribs , and cloſed vp the fleſh in ſtead there­of.
  22 And the rib which the LORD God had tak­en from man, † made hee a wom­an,Æ brought her vn­to the man.
  23 And Ad­am ſaid, This is now bone of my bones, and fleſh of my fleſh: ſhe ſhalbe called wom­an , be­cauſe ſhee was * tak­en out of man.
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