On March 24th, 1603, Queen Elizabeth died having ended her forty-four-year reign known as the Golden Era being succeeded by James VI of Scotland. King James, though born of Roman Catholic parents, publicly pledged himself against the extremes of both Romanism and Genevanism, again, like Elizabeth, trying to bring uniformity to the church. He had a distaste for the Reformers of Geneva, thus disliking the Geneva Bible, and with the unpopularity of the Bishop’s Bible, King James sought for a new translation, in which case would result in the third Authorized Version of the English Bible.  The first in 1539 named “The Great Bible”, being that of Henry VIII. The second authorized by Queen Elizabeth in 1568 named “The Bishop’s Bible”, and now the third in 1611 by King James VI.

     The king declared, “That a translation be made of the whole Bible, as consistent as it can be with the original Hebrew and the Greek; and this is to be set out and printed, without any marginal notes, and only to be used in all the churches of England in time of divine service”.  The king commissioned several “learned persons of both the universities and other places, to meet, confer, and consult together in order to make a new and more correct translation of the Bible”.

     In 1604, the king had selected 54 men for the translation of the Bible, but for reasons unknown, only 47 engaged in the work all of whom were known for their piety and learning. The King established XV rules to use as guidelines for their translation as given by Burnet in his History of the Reformation.

     The translators used the Greek “Textus Receptus” of Erasmus and Stephanus, along with the English translations of William Tyndale and the Geneva Bible. It is said that the process spanned a total of 5 years; 3 years by the translators and 2 years through the presses, and in the year 1611, from the press of Richard Barker, the new translation was complete.

This first edition was a large folio, 11” wide x 16-1/2” tall. There were five separate issues of the 1611 printing in total; 1611, 1613, 1617, 1634, and 1640/39.  When King James authorized this large pulpit folio to be printed, Richard Barker did so by facilitating 5 separate printing presses working tirelessly for two years. By 1611, the pages of several thousand copies were printed and ready to be bound and issued to the churches of England. It is estimated that in 1611 roughly 300 Authorized Bibles were issued to the churches. The remainder of the printed pages were stored away until the next issue was decreed by the king of England. Over the next two years, this Bible was read in the churches and small errors began to be discovered. The most famous of these misprints is Ruth 3:15. In 1611, this verse was printed as “he” went into the city, when the correct translation should read “she” went into the city. Thus, naming the first edition-first issue of the King James Bible in 1611 as the Great “He” Bible. As these misprints were discovered, these specific leaves, and only these leaves, were re-printed, and then bound with the other leaves originally printed in 1611. These were then issued at the next decree of the king. The next issue was in 1613. At this point, several of the known misprints were corrected along with Ruth 3:15 being changed to “she”, thus the second issue was named the Great “She” Bible in 1613. Over the course of the next 29 years, there were five pulpit folios issued to the churches with the majority of the leaves being printed originally in 1611, and with each issue, small errors were fixed, and these pages were reprinted. In the 4th and 5th issues, 1634 and 1640, the text layout stayed exactly the same but with a larger number of small changes made to the marginal notes which suggests a larger reprinting done in the latter years. Finally, in 1640, the 5th and last issue was released concluding the legacy of the 1611 printed folios. These misprints, corrections, and small changes will clearly define the different issue dates of the 1611 King James Bible.

     The King James Bible has become the standard of the Reformed Christian. It is the best and most reliable English translation of God’s Word because of its use of the Textus Receptus instead of the gnostic Alexandrian Greek texts. The King James Bible illustrates the Greek Textus Receptus preserved through the Byzantine Greek texts of the New Testament and the Masoretic Hebrew text of the Old Testament, most accurately capturing the whole council of God in the written Word.