'God Save the King James'

In this year of royal weddings, monarchy is already on its way back up. In the film world The King’s Speech is leading the field in the Oscar nominations and is arousing a new interest in the character and achievements of George VI. On Radio 4 there have been programmes recounting the history of the King James Bible and discussing its impact; the role played by James I has been given a new image, more positive than his political role. In the theatre, the King James Bible has been recognised as a dramatic text; it will be read aloud in the Globe Theatre between Palm Sunday and Easter Monday.

The bible can be read silently by individuals or spoken aloud. The significance of the sound of the spoken language has been illustrated by readings on Radio 4 throughout one Sunday, and some of the effects and influences were identified in the discussions.

The Lord’s Prayer has an iambic rhythm; Milton quoted from the bible, in iambic pentameter, in Paradise Lost – ‘She gave me of the tree, and I did eat’; words often spoken at a time of violence in Jamaica –‘No weapon formed against thee shall prosper’ – show how a biblical echo can be used as a kind of chant to ward off dangers; Handel’s Messiah has given popularity and permanence to the text used for its libretto.

Orators have used quotations: ‘Men will still say this was their finest hour’ (Churchill); ‘Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation’ (President Kennedy); ‘I have a dream…that one day every valley shall be exalted…’ (Martin Luther King). They recognised and reinforced the power, passion and musicality of the language.

The narrative of the bible is full of vivid images which, used there for the first time, have become familiar and enriching: a fly in the ointment; the salt of the earth; the powers that be; the skin of my teeth; the last gasp; an eye for an eye.

The original text of the King James Bible has been modified, as grammar, punctuation and spelling have become more fixed than in 1611, and there have been many attempts to make the text more accessible by clarifying the vocabulary and sentence structure. These different versions provided a treasure trove of teaching material, when the London Examining Board introduced Advanced Level English Language Studies, with a syllabus which included history of the language. The same basic text was available in, for example, the King James (1611), the Oxford (1961) and the Good News (1974) – though there were occasional problems with card-carrying atheist students who claimed that their parents would not want them studying religious texts. Students said they had found the Good News easier to read at school, and I remember reading James Moffatt’s translation. However, the key word here is read. Contemporary English may be simpler to read to yourself, but the King James was spoken aloud to congregations where many would be illiterate.

Take the beginning of Matthew II. The language of the King James is self-explanatory: ‘In the days of Herod the king’ gives a clear adverbial phrase of time and identifies the proper noun Herod with an explanatory phrase in apposition, whereas the Oxford phrase ‘during the reign’ when read aloud sounds more like a weather forecast. The King James recounts that ‘there came wise men from the east’; their wisdom is the salient feature. Other versions refer to ‘magicians’, ‘astrologers’ and ‘some men who studied the stars’ – phrases which would be unlikely to become as well known as ‘the three wise men’. Herod’s reaction in the King James is that he ‘was troubled’; the Good News phrase he ‘was very upset’ seems understated, almost humorous. The King James has linguistic interjections, ‘now’, ‘behold’, ‘lo’, appropriate for a listening audience. There are attention-grabbing phrases throughout the King James. ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you’ has modern colloquial equivalents in ‘I will say this once and once only’ and ‘Wake up at the back there!’

The discussions on Radio 4 concluded with an evaluation: ‘This bible is with us still in our language as a lens through which our whole culture shines. Whether for Christians – practising or dormant – or for those who simply value the best in our past, the King James Bible is precious, a product of politics and religious strife as much as devotion, shaped by accident as well as design; it has come to represent and embody so much of what we hold dear in our language and our literature, as well as remaining an instrument of faith. No book has travelled further, none has matched its weight in our culture, and over its four hundred years none has been more widely loved.’

If anyone is interested in going to the Globe they can get further details from Kathleen or they can telephone the box office - 020 7401 9919 - when general booking opens in mid-February. Why not organise a group of you?