The King James Bible Is First Published
In 1611 a committee of scholars produced an English Bible whose cadences would echo through the language for centuries.
In 1611, after roughly seven years of work, the King James Version of the Bible was published in London by the King’s Printer, Robert Barker. Commissioned by King James VI and I in 1604, it was the product of around fifty scholars organised into six companies working at Westminster, Oxford and Cambridge, who revised earlier English translations against the original Hebrew and Greek.
Known in Britain as the Authorised Version, the book attracted little notice at first but grew to become the most widely used English Bible for centuries. Two slightly different printings appeared in 1611, later nicknamed the “He” and “She” Bibles after a variant reading in the Book of Ruth.
Its diction and rhythm shaped how English speakers heard their own language.
The translation left a deep mark on English literary style, supplying countless phrases still in everyday use. Accepted as the standard English Bible from the mid-17th to the early 20th century, it remains one of the most influential books ever printed in the language.
Sources & references
3 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 3 independent sources.
