A rather simple challenge to the assumption that the King James Bible was written in Elizabethan English.
Kent Brandenburg has a well written article challenging this common assumption. This is worth you taking the time to read. A real eye opener!
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I wanted to explore the idea about whether the King James Version actually was Elizabethan English. Elizabethan, of course, refers to Queen Elizabeth, who reigned until she died in 1603. To understand what was the language of the day, we should consider the writings of William Shakespeare, who died in 1616. The last of Shakespeare’s works to be printed were finished in 1609. So Shakespeare wrote in “Elizabethan English.” The translators were done with the KJV in 1611. Shakespeare’s works are still being performed all over the English speaking world and hold up in attracting an audience. People still go to watch Shakespeare.
You can see all of Shakespeare’s works online here. The first work that you can click on happens to be his comedy, All’s Well That Ends Well. That title sounds like a familiar modern colloquialism, doesn’t it? Here’s the first substantial line in scene one from that Shakesperean play:
You shall find of the king a husband, madam; you,
sir, a father: he that so generally is at all times
good must of necessity hold his virtue to you; whose
worthiness would stir it up where it wanted rather
than lack it where there is such abundance.
I don’t see “thou” or “thee” in that passage. It looks like “you,” “you,” and “you.”
When you read Shakespeare, you are reading Elizabethan English and you do not read the same language as the King James Version.
http://kentbrandenburg.blogspot.com/2009/10/king-james-version-elizabethan-english.html
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Odd is it not how we take statements that are commonly passed around as facts. I recommend you go and read the complete article for yourself.
