The reading level of different versions

[Salty]

So what is the reading level of the KJV?
Not just a few selected verses or chapters - but rather the version as a whole!

Click here for discussion

 

[Just_Ahead]

Interesting discussion. Thank you for posting the link.

 

[Salty]

I found it when I was trying to answer someone on FB who said the KJ is on a 4-5 grade level!
Then they like to boast that he KJV is the only inherent Word of God.
I then ask them - then what was the inherent 'word of God for over a thousand years
Then they say I am ignorant.

Please tell me why I keep posting there?

 

[Salty]

Here is the link of their "Proof" the KJV is on a 5th grade level

 

[Yeshua1]

So what is the reading level of the KJV?
Not just a few selected verses or chapters - but rather the version as a whole!

Click here for discussion

I thought that it was high school level?

 

[Salty]

I thought that it was high school level?

IT is - anywhere from 11th grade to college Freshman.

ITs just that some want to think that it is on a 5th grade level. Granted - some portions are -
but overall - much closer to High School

 

[Reynolds]

So what is the reading level of the KJV?
Not just a few selected verses or chapters - but rather the version as a whole!

Click here for discussion

Apart from the article, all I can say is my Personal experience. I went to Christian school. In 4th grade, we were all reading the KJV aloud in class. All of us (except one special needs kid) read the Bible well. We understood it as good as could be expected from kids our age. As we read, our teacher would explain meanings of words to us.
My son, who by any standard is exceptionally smart and definitely smarter than me or my wife, was reading and comprehending the KJV well when in third grade. He even looked at the study notes and figured out the hard words and phrases.
He could tell me what he read. He couldnt unpack Romans or Understand the prophecy of Daniels dream, but he could tell me what he read.

 

[Reynolds]

I found it when I was trying to answer someone on FB who said the KJ is on a 4-5 grade level!
Then they like to boast that he KJV is the only inherent Word of God.
I then ask them - then what was the inherent 'word of God for over a thousand years
Then they say I am ignorant.

Please tell me why I keep posting there?

I try to steer clear of KJV only. One old preacher told me "Jesus preached out of the King James Bible." After that I told him "You win." He grinned ear to ear. He missed the sarcasm.

 

[Salty]

... We understood it as good as could be expected from kids our age. As we read, our teacher would explain meanings of words to us. ....

Thats my point - at 4th Grade - you needed someone to explain parts of the Bible.

 

[Reynolds]

Thats my point - at 4th Grade - you needed someone to explain parts of the Bible.

At Masters degree same is still true.

 

[Yeshua1]

I try to steer clear of KJV only. One old preacher told me "Jesus preached out of the King James Bible." After that I told him "You win." He grinned ear to ear. He missed the sarcasm.

I had someone tell me that they will stick to good ole Kjv, as a leather bound one that Moses had good enough for them!

 

[alexander284]

So what is the reading level of the KJV?
Not just a few selected verses or chapters - but rather the version as a whole!

Click here for discussion

In my opinion, due primarily to the use of Elizabethan English, the KJV is written at the college level (similar to Shakespeare).

 

[Rippon2]

I had someone tell me that they will stick to good ole Kjv, as a leather bound one that Moses had good enough for them!

You need a the and a was.

 

[Conan]

You need a the and a was.

Could be an "a" and a "wasn't" instead. More unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No.

 

[Rippon2]

Could be an "a" and a "wasn't" instead. More unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No.

Your alternatives are certainly possible.

 

[MartyF]

The KJV is a translation written by a foreign culture in a foreign dialect. This culture was superstitious and had many superstitious beliefs such as cockatrices and unicorns. This culture actually believed that these mythical creatures existed. They did not means serpents and rhinos. They know what rhinos were and they called them rhinos - no unicorns. In fact, you find pictures at that time for both.

At least the King James does not give Moses horns.

The KJV was written at a "low grade level." It had to be. However, people still don't understand or believe that the culture and dialect which wrote the King James was foreign.

 

[alexander284]

I don't believe the King James Version of the Bible was written at a "low grade level."

I think that the United States has gone from college level reading comprehension to an eighth grade reading comprehension level.

 

[Conan]

The KJV is a translation written by a foreign culture in a foreign dialect. This culture was superstitious and had many superstitious beliefs such as cockatrices and unicorns. This culture actually believed that these mythical creatures existed. They did not means serpents and rhinos. They know what rhinos were and they called them rhinos - no unicorns. In fact, you find pictures at that time for both.

At least the King James does not give Moses horns.

The KJV was written at a "low grade level." It had to be. However, people still don't understand or believe that the culture and dialect which wrote the King James was foreign.

“I had perceived by experience, how that it was impossible to stablish the lay people in any truth, except the scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text.”

—William Tyndale, Preface to the Pentateuch, 1530
English Versions of the Bible

 

[MartyF]

I think that the United States has gone from college level reading comprehension to an eighth grade reading comprehension level.

When?!

When did the average American have a “college-level” reading comprehension?

Do you have anything to base this on rather than nostalgia?

Reading levels have not gotten worse in the U.S. They were always bad. There are millions of tests to prove this.

I don't believe the King James Version of the Bible was written at a "low grade level."

If King James were alive, he’d disagree with you. Why do you think the KJV says “God save the King”? King James wanted to unite the kingdom. He wanted a Bible the common people would understand. He wanted to compete with and supplant the Geneva Bible.

Do you really think that the average person attending the Globe Theater was college educated? No, they weren’t.

 

[MartyF]

“I had perceived by experience, how that it was impossible to stablish the lay people in any truth, except the scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text.”

—William Tyndale, Preface to the Pentateuch, 1530

Exactly! They wrote clearly to the people of that time and place.