It is the book that invented English. Before the King James Version (published 1611), there was no dominant literary language in England; after it, English became a vehicle for some of the most beautiful prose ever written. The translators, drawing on earlier work from Tyndale and others, created a version that shaped not only religious thought but the entire trajectory of Western literature, from Milton's Paradise Lost to Morrison's Beloved. Its phrases have become so embedded in our speech that we no longer recognize them as quotations: "the powers that be," "a broken heart," "the salt of the earth," "the valley of the shadow of death." The text moves from the creation of all things in Genesis through the exile and return, the coming of Christ, and the Revelation of things to come. It is both narrative and prayer, genealogy and prophecy, law and poetry. Whether you come to it for spiritual nourishment or literary study, the King James remains the version that generations of English-speaking people have turned to in their darkest hours and greatest joys.
