"God forbid" or "God speed" are not "English additions", these wordings are the sense for sense portrayal of the originals, and therefore the correct English terminology in the presentation of God's exact message in English.
Some seem to think that the King James Bible is just religious form of Shakespearian or Elizabethan English. Nothing could be further from the facts. The style, grammar, vocabulary and rhythms are vastly different to anything else to be found in historical English literature. The Bible did not follow conventions, that is to say, was not merely the "common language on the street", but was the high form: it created the trends, it was the touchstone, it was Biblical English, pure, undefiled and unmixed.
It is a mistake to think that "common" or the old meaning of "vulgar" means that it should be on the lowest common denominator. It is incorrect. Bible English is conversant to all forms of English "dialects" spoken today, in that there is one English language, and that the King James Bible is comprehensible to anyone, but for their heart being open to the Spirit of God.
When the translators made a comment about the market-place, they were not meaning gutter talk or small talk of stall holders or something, they were talking about the public accessibility. There is a vast difference between "market-place language" and "market-place accessibility". English is the world's market-place language, but the King James Bible is (via the internet) in full market-place accessibility.
"Therefore the word of God being set forth in Greek, becometh hereby like a candle set upon a candlestick, which giveth light to all that are in the house; or like a proclamation sounded forth in the market-place, which most men presently take knowledge of; and therefore that language was fittest to contain the Scriptures, both for the first preachers of the Gospel to appeal unto for witness, and for the learners also of those times to make search and trial by."
To attempt to argue that the King James Bible is not "today's language" is both unfactual and not backed up by the own translators' words.
|