The edition of the KJV I use in the Pure Cambridge Edition, which was printed in the 1900's.
This revised KJV edition is the one supposedly protected or guarded by the elders [Craig Savige, Samantha Savige, Matthew Verschuur] of the Pentecostal Victory Faith Centre in Australia. Matthew Verschuur claimed: “As for variations in the Pure Cambridge Edition, these have also been settled and resolved by the Elders of Victory Faith Centre in their apostolic office of the guardianship of the Pure Cambridge Edition” (
Revelation of the Pure Word). Concerning this edition, Matthew Verschuur asserted: “It was only identified between 2000 and 2004 by the Christian ministries at an Australian Church, and given that identifying name” (
Vintage Bibles, p. 59). Craig Savige wrote: “It is no coincidence that this prophecy [by Pentecostal John G. Lake in 1914] came just after the final edition of the King James Bible—the Pure Cambridge Edition—had come” (
King James Bible Only Position). Concerning this edition, Matthew Verschuur asserted: “Its appearance with the rise of Pentecostalism, especially Smith Wigglesworth (1907) is no accident” (
Revelation of the Pure Word). Matthew Verschuur declared: “It was divine providence that revealed that God’s chosen standard was the Pure Cambridge Edition” (
God’s Chosen Edition). In his conclusion, Matthew Verschuur claimed: “The Pure Cambridge Edition is correct to the very letter, and it is fully God’s will in English” (
Pure Cambridge Edition). Matthew Verschuur asserted: “The Pure Cambridge Edition can always be shown to be correct” (
God’s Chosen Edition). Some of these quotations are from unpaged books or articles posted at Matthew Verschuur’s web site.
Matthew Verschuur's human
ex cathedra claims concerning this edition of the KJV have not been proven to be true and scriptural. In some places, another KJV edition has better or more accurate editing, spelling, or use of italics so that the claimed PCE has some inconsistencies and imperfections. What is claimed, assumed, or even proven to be true of twelve renderings used to identify a Pure Cambridge Edition cannot be assumed by use of the fallacy of composition or by use of the fallacy of begging the question to be true of all the renderings in that edition.
Just as “alway” and “always” were a spelling variation in the 1611 edition of the KJV, “beside” and “besides” were also likely a spelling variation in the 1611. The 1611 edition seems to use either form at random as interchangeable variant spellings. However, in the case of these two variant spellings, a difference in meaning developed. In present standard English, there is now a distinction in meaning between beside and besides. David Norton maintained that beside and besides “are two forms of what was one word in the KJB’s English” (
Textual History, p. 138). David Norton asserted that “a distinction of spelling (something the translators were indifferent to) has become a distinction of meaning” (
Ibid.). David Norton noted: "'Beside' has concrete, locative senses, 'by the side of' (
Ibid.). Susan Thurman wrote: “
Besides, beside: If you want the one that means
in addition to, you want the one that has an additional
s (
besides);
beside means
by the side of” (
Only Grammar Book, p. 10). At its entry for
besides, the 1828
Webster’s Dictionary defined it as “over and above; separate or distinct from,” and then it stated: “This word, though radically the same as
beside, and a corruption of it, ought not to be confounded with it, for it is never used in the senses explained under
beside, except in the second.” In its “Glossary of Usage,” the 1973
Warriner’s English Grammar noted: “
Beside means ‘by the side of’ someone or something; it is always a proposition.
Besides as a preposition means ‘in addition to’” (p. 191). Concerning Ruth 4:4 "there is none to redeem it beside thee, David Norton observed: "'beside' misleadingly suggests that there is no-one standing next to the kinsman who could redeem it, but the first edition's 'besides' gives the right sense, that there is no-other than the kinsman" (
Textual History, p. 138).
Some KJV editions such as David Norton’s 2005 and 2011 Cambridge editions and such as American Bible Society KJV editions more clearly and more consistently show this distinction in meaning between beside and besides than most of the post-1920’s Cambridge editions or the claimed Pure Cambridge Edition do. This could be considered an inconsistency or imperfection in the editing or printing of those Cambridge editions. The claimed Pure Cambridge Edition has not always been shown to be correct in all its editing decisions.