That's right. We are now in "The Life and Legacy of The King James Bible," the exhibit currently on display in BYU's Special Collections, and it is now 405 A.D. Saint Jerome has finally finished his translation of the Greek and Hebrew Bibles into Latin, what will later be known as the Vulgate Bible. This is written on vellum, and will eventually be the Bible most used by all of Western Europe up through the Middle Ages. You can read more about the history of the King James Bible here.
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| The Vulgate Bible |
It is not until print came into play that men like William Tyndale were able to produce, against the wishes of an English king, the Bible in English and distribute them in England through Germany. Among the many versions produced after this Bible were the Great Bible, the Geneva Bible (1557-1560), the Bishops' Bible (1568), and the King James' Version.
Interestingly, Robert Barker, King James' printer, held a royal patent for the printing of Bibles in England, but when he took it upon himself to print the new translation of the Bible, the King James' Version, he and some investors were the ones to take on the cost. He also continued to print the Geneva Bible because it was so popular, even though at the time of King James it was considered the Bible of the Puritans.
With the printing of Bibles came a lot of fun mishaps, as well. During an early printing of the King James version, someone accidentally set the type in Ruth 3:15 saying "he went," when "she went" was meant. These became known as the "He Bible" and the "She Bible." Additionally, Robert Barker was at one point fined because, in what is now referred to as "The Wicked Bible," the "not" in "Thou shalt not commit adultery" was omitted. He was later deprived of his printer's license. He died in prison (he was most likely there for monetary reasons) ten years later.
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| The King James Version of the Bible |
Ha, who'd of thought they would have typos back in the day? It's interesting because in my Book of Mormon class, there is actually proof that Mormon could have made typos on the gold plates. Since he couldn't erase what he wrote, he'd have to word his sentence differently so that it would work. For exmample, in Alma 1:15 it says they carried Nehor to the top of the hill to be executed where "he was caused, or rather did acknowledge...that what he had taught to the people was contrary to the word of God." Imagine if Mormon had said Nehor was "caused" to confess his sins. That would refute the whole book and its truthfulness, so thus Mormon had to work around his mistakes.
ReplyDeleteIts remarkable to see what one mistake can do.
Wow Andrew that's an amazing point I'd never thought of before. It seems like there are a lot of instances of that happening in the Book of Mormon, and that makes perfect sense!
ReplyDeleteRachel, I also went to the KJV exhibit and one of the most interesting things I found was that earlier printings of the Bible (like the Geneva from a few decades before) were printed in a text very similar to handwritten text, while the KJV and other later versions of the Bible were printed in a font that was more practical and easier to read. It's like we discussed in class how the new medium will always draw upon the old one for format and examples.