Few literary works have had as tremendous an impact uponthe world as the King James Bible. It has influenced allparts of our culture, including literature. However, manyhave no idea of how the King James Bible came to be. Thestory behind the King James Bible is one that we all shouldknow and understand in order to relate it to modernChristianity in our world.The King James Bible, often referred to as theAuthorized Version even though it was never actuallyauthorized by any legal recourse, began on 16 January 1604 asa request from Puritan leader Dr. John Reynolds at theHampton Court Conference, which was a meeting of the bishopsof England called for by King James. Reynolds "'moved hisMajestie, that there might bee a newe translation of theBible, because those which were allowed in the raignes ofHenrie the eight, and Edward the sixt, were corrupt and notaunswerable to the truth of the Originall'" (Isaacs 196?97).King James loved the idea. On 10 February 1604, he decreed,"'that a translation be made of the whole Bible, as consonantas can be to the original Hebrew and Greek,.and only to beused in all Churches of England in time of Divine Service'"(Isaacs 197).In less than six months King James had endorsed theroster of translators and was pushing for them to completethe translation as soon as possible. He wrote to the Bishopof London on 22 July 1604 that he had "'appointed certainlearned men, to the number of four and fifty, for thetranslating of the Bible'" (Earle 74). However, some ofthese men either died or stepped down before the translationwas started which reduced the final number to 47. Thetranslators were divided into six companies, two in each ofthe cities of Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford. The listof translators and job of each company is as follows:Westminster, First Company (10): Lancelot Andrewes, JohnOverall, Adrian de Saravia, Richard Clark, John Layfield,Robert Tighe, Francis Burleigh, Geoffrey King, WilliamBedwell, Richard Thomson (Genesis to II Kings).
