The King James Bible Word Book: A Contemporary Dictionary of Curious and Archaic Words Found in the King James Version of the Bible

By Anonymous

Book Overview

English has changed dramatically since the introduction of the King James Bible. The original words often fail to make sense but the beauty of the poetic style reaffirms your love for the King James Bible. This Book will help you make sense of the often archaic language. A delightful and authoritative guide, this source book illuminates the 1611 text for the 1990's readers. Fascinating, brief articles explain over 800 terms of the KJV that have either fallen into disuse or have taken on a dramatically different meaning. Includes a comprehensive index of over 2600 entries.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0785280936
• ISBN13: 9780785280934
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 2.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.8" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Supplement with The Complete Guide to the Book of Proverbs.

This is a reprint of The Bible Word Book originally written in 1960. It gives interesting background on many Old English words and points out the many bloopers in the King James translation. Most famous of these is the "unicorn" which occurs 9 times and which is properly corrected to "wild ox" in modern versions. If you would like to compare the KJV to 5 contemporary versions, read THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS by Cody Jones. Besides an in-depth commentary, it features 6 translations of Proverbs side-by-side: New King James (1982), New Revised Standard (1990), New Century (1991), New International Version (1983), King James (1611) and New Living Translation (1996).

Must have reference for KJV users

Many words used in the King James Version have a different meaning today than they had in 1611. It is important to know what the words meant then instead of what they mean now. If you read the KJV thinking the words have the same meaning, you will misinterpret many passages of scripture.An earlier reviewer pointed out that this book does not cover Elizabethan grammar. I do not think that is a fair criticism. If you read Shakespeare in High School the grammar of the KJV should not be a problem.