Common Misconception about the KJV

[Logos1560]

In the 2026 book entitled God's Word Is Not Bound: Copyright & the Stewardship of Scripture, Andrew Case wrote: "One of the common misconceptions about the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is that it is a universally public domain work -- something many tout as a feature of its superiority to modern copyrighted translations. But most don't realize that it is still under a special perpetual restriction of the Crown in the United Kingdom that essentially operates as a form of copyright. Therefore, an exclusive use of the KJV is not the solution to the problem of copyrighted bibles" (p. 257).

Andrew Case wrote: "Unlike the KJV, some modern translations such as the Berean Standard Bible are public domain worldwide. This means that there are modern translations that fulfill the need for a restriction-free Bible better than the KJV does" (p. 257).

sellingJesus.org

 

[Salty]

A guide to copyright

 

[Logos1560]

In the 2026 book entitled God's Word Is Not Bound: Copyright & the Stewardship of Scripture, Andrew Case wrote: "The right to print the Authorized Version was governed by the royal printing prerogative, commonly attacked in the nineteenth century as the 'Bible monopoly,' which was established in the 1500s under the Tudor monarchy. By the period in question, the Authorized Version could lawfully be printed in English only by the King's Printer and the privileged university presses of Oxford and Cambridge" (p. 67).