A couple of weeks ago, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, spoke these words at a special service at Westminster Abbey celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible.

It was meant to be read aloud. And that means that it was meant to be part of an event, a shared experience. Gathered as a Christian community, the parish would listen, in the context of praise, reflection and instruction, to Scripture being read: it provided the picture of a whole renewed universe within which all the other activities made sense.

It seems as if I’ve spent much of this year writing blog posts about the Bible. So when I got my new National Geographic in the mail recently, and the cover story was the King James Bible, I knew it was time to write a post about it (which I’ve been thinking about for a while). Now I’m not a “KJV only” guy. In fact, the irony is that even though I’ve been a part of Bible Churches my whole life, I’ve never really used the King James all that much. The Bible I grew up with and used until recently was the New American Standard (NASB).

But being a man who loves history, I can appreciate the impact of the KJV Bible on the Church and to our culture as a whole. And, of course, now being an Anglican, I really have to appreciate it! The KJV was written by Anglicans. There were a mixture of scholars, including Puritans, but they were still part of the Church of England at that time. There are many articles and videos you can read or watch that give the history of the King James Bible including a recently, well-done documentary/movie about it.

Here’s a list of 122 Common Phrases that we still use today that come right out of the King James, such as:

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

A leopard cannot change its spots.

By the skin of your teeth.

Eat drink and be merry.

For everything there is a season.

Labour of love.

Many are called but few are chosen.

No rest for the wicked.

The root of the matter.

But mostly, what I’d like to do, is simply post a few audio links. That way, you can take a few minutes and simply Hear the King James Bible read…like Archbishop Williams stated.

Psalm 23

Isaiah 40

Luke 2

1 Corinthians 13

Shane+