The question
Read and compare
Read Isaiah 40:8, Matthew 24:35, 1 Peter 1:23-25 and 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Read the verses around them too. Then read the introduction written by the 1611 translators. What do the Bible verses say? What further reasons connect that promise to the KJB?
Evidence
God’s promise
These passages say that God’s Word endures. They do not name the year 1611 or the English language. The case for the KJB in English therefore also examines the texts it translated and the translators’ work.
Read Isaiah 40 →Evidence
The texts passed down to us
We value the KJB’s links with the traditional Hebrew Old Testament and the received Greek New Testament. We see God at work as believers pass on his Word. The Textus Receptus means the received text. It is a group of printed Greek editions, not one identical book. Its wording does not always match the wording in most surviving copies. Scrivener later worked out which Greek readings the KJB reflects.
Read Scrivener’s introduction and Greek text →Evidence
A faithful English translation
The 1611 translators explain that they used earlier work. They also printed some other possible wordings in notes beside the text. We trust their Bible without claiming that the team received new words from God as prophets did. Check their own introduction before making claims about their aims.
Read The Translators to the Reader →The strongest challenge
Why the KJB and not another translation? God’s promises alone do not name the KJB. Examine its received texts, translation and history. People who trust the same promises may disagree about this further conclusion.
What the evidence supports—and what remains open
The KJB faithfully gives God’s preserved Word to English readers. Preserved means kept through time. Historical records illuminate the case, but they do not settle every disputed word by themselves.
Three historical challenges to examine
Our confidence in the KJV does not remove these questions. A claim of a perfectly preserved English text needs an answer to each.
Erasmus and the last verses of Revelation
Erasmus’s Greek manuscript lacked the end of Revelation. He supplied the missing ending by translating from Latin into Greek. Some resulting readings passed into the received printed text. This is a serious qualification to any claim that every received reading rests on surviving Greek manuscripts.
Revelation 22:19 is a concrete example: the KJV reads “book of life”; the NIV reads “tree of life.” Examine the Greek and Latin evidence for that reading separately. Do not generalize that every word of the ending lacks Greek support.
Compare Revelation 22:16–21 → · Read Tregelles’s historical introduction → · Read the Trinitarian Bible Society’s defense →
The question: What evidence supports “book,” and how does that fit a claim of preservation in the Greek text?
The KJV after 1611
The familiar KJV has a history of correction and standardization. Important editions appeared in 1629, 1638, 1762 and 1769. Changes include spelling, punctuation, printing corrections and some differences in wording. They are not all a fresh translation, but neither should every difference be dismissed as spelling without checking it.
Read Scrivener’s historical study of the Authorized Edition →
The question: When we say “the KJV is perfect,” which edition and which readings do we mean?
Scrivener’s later reconstruction
Scrivener’s Greek edition first appeared in 1881. It sought to represent the Greek readings reflected in the Authorized Version and to show differences adopted by the Revised Version. It was a later scholarly reconstruction, not a single Greek volume used by the translators in 1611. The translators drew on earlier printed editions and other resources.
Read Scrivener’s original preface in transcription → · Cambridge’s edition record →
The question: Are we defending a particular Greek edition, the translators’ choices, or the resulting English wording?
Follow the evidence
What does the evidence show?
No score and no forced answer. Use the sources above to weigh the claim.
- Check the source. Read the linked passage or record in context. Note its edition, date and language where relevant.
- Test the explanation. Compare the strongest challenge with what the source actually shows. Which point does it support, and which point needs more evidence?
- Choose your next step. Record the question you still need answered below, then follow a source or the next related study.
Your study notebook
What do you think—and what is still unclear?
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