Featured The KJV has not remained unchanged since 1769

The final KJV text was not established in 1769. While some KJV-only authors have made that claim, it is not true.

While most [not all] of the present varying KJV editions are based on the 1769 Oxford edition of the KJV, their varying KJV texts are not 100% identical to the 1769 Oxford edition text. The editions of the KJV printed in and after 2000 based on the 1873 Cambridge edition of Scrivener did not follow the 1769 text. The present Cambridge editions edited by David Norton also do not follow the 1769 text. The text of the KJV has been revised and changed since 1769.

There are likely more than thirty editions of the KJV in print today that differ in some places from each other. Even editions of the KJV printed by the same publisher today may have some differences. In 2011, Cambridge printed six varying editions of the KJV [the Concord edition, the Pitt Minion edition, the Standard Text or Emerald edition, the Clarion edition, the 2011 Transetto Text edition, and the 2011 edition of the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible edited by David Norton].

There would be as many as 400 differences between the 1769 Oxford edition text and a typical present KJV edition. Examples of some of the actual differences were listed in another thread.

While most Cambridge KJV editions in the 1800's [besides the 1805/1817 Cambridge editions and the 1873 Cambridge edition by Scrivener] were based on the 1769 Oxford edition as revised in the 1800's, the typical 1800's Cambridge KJV text was changed in 1900's Cambridge editions.

If a Cambridge KJV edition printed in 1887 is taken as an example, 1900's Cambridge editions changed the spelling of around 30 proper names as found in the 1769 Oxford edition to the spelling found in the 1873 Cambridge edition of Scrivener. Scrivener went back to the spelling of these proper names in the 1611 instead of the spelling found in the 1769 Oxford.

Another twenty spellings and changes were made to the KJV text as found in this 1887 Cambridge edition.
The 1887 Cambridge in agreement with the 1769 has "travel" at Numbers 20:14 and Lamentations 3:5 while 1900's Cambridge editions have "travail."

The 1887 Cambridge in agreement with the 1769 has "Most High" (Deut. 32:8) while 1900's Cambridge editions have "most High."

At Joshua 19:2, the 1887 Cambridge has "Beersheba, and Sheba" while 1900's Cambridge editions have "Beersheba, or Sheba."

 

Besides its 1900's editions that made some changes to the 1769 Oxford or that followed some of the differences in the 1873 Cambridge, Cambridge has printed at least three other important editions that involved different editing/revision decisions than those in the 1769 [an 1805 or 1817 edition by unknown editors, the 1873 edition as edited by Scrivener, and the 2005 edition as edited by David Norton].

At some point likely in the early 1800‘s, Cambridge departed from that Oxford standard [especially in its 1816 and 1817 editions] before later returning to a revised edition of it. David Norton indicated that the text in this 1817 Cambridge edition “goes back at least as far as 1805” (Textual History, pp. 125-126). Norton noted: “It is an eclectic combination of old and new work that is most interesting for the number of 1611 readings it restores” (p. 126). Norton also pointed out that “in places some of Blayney’s readings appear” (p. 126). In another book, Norton wrote: “On occasions a great deal of work was done on the text with no fanfare at all. By 1805, for instance, Cambridge had revised its text, restoring a number of 1611 readings, but it is not clear what principles lay behind this work, nor who did it” (KJB: A Short History, pp. 173-174). A KJV that Cambridge published for the British and Foreign Bible Society and identified as being printed in 1812 has this same text. The text of a KJV edition printed in Albany, New York, in 1816 and of a KJV edition printed in New York by Collins and Company in 1816 provide additional evidence that this text goes back before 1817. Someone took some time and effort in the editing and making of the text that served as the basis for this 1805/1817 Cambridge edition. Evidently, three or more earlier KJV editions were compared and consulted in its making. For the period that Cambridge printed this stereotype edition [likely from 1805 until 1818 or 1819], it served as a Cambridge standard. This KJV text served as a Cambridge standard for a longer period [14 years] than the earlier 1629 Cambridge edition had been [9 years]. This is a Cambridge standard edition and revision overlooked or ignored by KJV-only authors. Facts from a KJV edition in John Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible printed in London in 1821 show that it followed much of the same KJV text as that in this 1805/1817 Cambridge edition. Facts from some American editions of the KJV (such as Phinney’s Stereotype Edition, Holbrook’s Stereotype edition, and Harding’s Fine Edition) indicate that they have been influenced by the same KJV text that was the basis for this 1805/1817 Cambridge edition. A KJV edition printed in 1827 in New York by Daniel Smith and stereotyped by J. Howe and a KJV edition printed in 1835 in Philadelphia by Alexander Toward also may have been influenced by it. These KJV editions in the early 1800’s would suggest that the 1769 Oxford edition was not firmly established as the standard or was not yet known or recognized as the standard by all printers of the KJV. In addition, this 1805/1817 Cambridge edition may also have had some influence on the later 1873 and 2005 Cambridge editions.

Later with its 1873 edition, Cambridge departed from its version of the Oxford standard text of the KJV. This 1873 KJV is one of the most highly praised and acclaimed editions ever printed by Cambridge. KJV defender Edward Hills noted: "In the 19th century the most important edition of the King James Version was the Cambridge Paragraph Bible (1873), with F. H. A. Scrivener as its editor" (KJV Defended, p. 217). David Norton indicated that Scrivener was “more conservative” as an editor than Blayney was (Textual History, p. 124). Norton described this 1873 edition by Scrivener as “by far the most substantial and responsible work on the text after the work of the translators themselves” (p. 122). W. F. Moulton maintained that "the Cambridge Paragraph Bible, edited by Dr. Scrivener, is the classic edition of the Authorised Version, and is a monument of minute accuracy and unsparing labour" (History of the English Bible, p. 211). Dean John Burgon wrote: “English readers are reminded that Dr. Scrivener’s is the only classical edition of the English Bible” (Revision Revised, p. 238 note). In its review of this 1873 Cambridge edition in 1878, The London Quarterly Review stated: “The true restorers are critics like Dr. Scrivener, who set themselves to remove modern additions and bring out the original fabric in its ancient form and outline. Such a work demands high qualifications of learning, judgment, and discriminative skill, as well as great care and labour; and of all these the present work furnishes conspicuous proof” (Vol. 49, p. 451). J. Boyes asserted: “The Cambridge Paragraph Bible, edited by Dr. Scrivener, has been rightly designated the classic edition of the authorised version, and certainly seems to have reached as high a pitch of excellence as the version is capable of attaining” (Englishman’s Bible, p. 121). In his 1881 book, Samuel Newth described the Cambridge Paragraph Bible as “the most carefully prepared edition” of the KJV “that has ever been issued” (Lectures on Bible Revision, p. 56). In 1885, P. W. Raidabaugh wrote: “The most accurate edition, in all respects, of the Authorized Version ever published is the one issued from the Cambridge Press in 1873, under the editorship of the Rev. F. H. Scrivener” (History, p. 62). In 1891, J. M. Freeman asserted: “Probably the most accurate edition, in all respects, of the Authorized Version ever published is the one issued at Cambridge, under the careful editorship of the Rev. F. H. Scrivener” (Short History of the English Bible, p. 58). Some publishers have printed editions that follow this 1873 revision instead of the 1769.

 

I would think that believers would want to know the truth and learn accurate information about editions of the KJV instead of incorrect information.

 

Since 2000, some Zondervan KJV editions were based on the 1873 Cambridge edition of Scrivener with a few spelling updates such as “more” instead of “moe.” The Hendrickson Parallel Bible of 2005 and the New Hendrickson Parallel Bible of 2008 included the 1873 Cambridge edition as its KJV edition. Some other KJV editions printed by Hendrickson Publishers are also based on this 1873 edition.

These present 1873 Cambridge-based KJV editions have many differences when compared to most other typical present KJV editions.

A good number of these differences involve places where the 1873 went back to 1611 renderings or spellings. There are also a few differences where the 1873-based editions may follow renderings in the 1611 “She” edition [“possession” (Gen. 47:27), “ye shall” (Lev. 18:30), “thou shalt” (Num. 10:2), “the valleys” (Deut. 8:7), “it is true” (Deut. 17:4), “she rose” (1 Kings 3:20), “bondman” (1 Kings 9:22), “maidens” (Job 19:15), “from afar“ (Isa. 49:1) “thine hand” (Isa. 64:8), “mine hands” (Isa. 65:2), “mine hand” (Jer. 25:15, Ezek. 6:14), “with the sword” (Ezek. 31:18), “in pieces” (Dan. 2:34), “they be drunken” (Nahum 1:10), “unto a grain” (Matt. 13:31), and “have I stretched” (Rom. 10:21)]. Some differences in placement of apostrophes can also be found in them [fathers' house (1 Chron. 7:2, Ezra 2:59), mercy's sake (Ps. 6:4, 31:16, 44:26), adder's poison (Ps. 140:3), fools' back (Prov. 26:3), father's (Ezek. 22:10), oaths' sake (Matt. 14:9, Mark 6:26)]. The 1873-based editions have “strain out” (Matt. 23:24), “ye believe not” (John 10:25), “were entered” (Acts 25:23), “or by our epistle” (2 Thess. 2:15), and “profession of our hope” (Heb. 10:23).