March 21, 2002 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article)

A common challenge made by those who defend the modern versions is that the King James Bible today is vastly different from the one that was published in 1611. They point to the four revisions that were made in the 17th and 18th centuries and claim that tens of thousands of changes were made.

It is true that there were revisions. The first was in 1629 by Samuel Ward and John Bois, who had worked on the original translation. The second was in 1638 by the Cambridge University Press. The third was in 1762 by Dr. Thomas Paris of Trinity College, Cambridge. The fourth was in 1769 by Dr. Benjamin Blayney.

The changes, though, were of a very minor nature. They were largely a correction of printing errors, an updating of italics, spelling, and punctuation, and modernizing of some obsolete words. The changes also involved the addition of a large number of new marginal notes and cross-references.

How different, then, is the King James Bible today than the one in 1611? The following authoritative answer is by Dr. Donald Waite of Bible for Today ministry. It is authoritative because he took the time to examine this challenge first hand by diligently and laboriously comparing every word of the 1611 KJV with a standard KJV in publication today. Following is his testimony:

"The question is, how great were those revisions? How much has the wording changed? That is why I compared the present day Old Scofield King James Version with the original 1611. Some say there are 40,000 to 50,000 changes, and if you listened to them, you would think we don't have anything like the original today.

"[The changes, though, are largely related to spelling.] For instance, take John 9, the account of the man born blind. Now, the word 'blind' in verse 1 is spelled 'blinde.' It's a change. But is 'blind' any different from 'blinde'? If that is a change you're talking about, it doesn't affect the ear. Now, in the second verse, 'sin' is spelled 'sinne.' That is a change. Then the word 'born' is spelled 'borne.' But the sound is the same.

"What I did, was to count only the changes that could be HEARD. And from Genesis to Revelation, did I get 30,000? No. Did I get 20,000? No. 1,000? No. I got 421 CHANGES TO THE EAR, that could be heard, out of the 791,328 words. Just 421. That is actually one change out of 1,880 words. As for those 421 CHANGES to the ear--most of them were minor, just changes in spelling.

"There were ONLY 136 SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES that were different words. The others were only 285 MINOR CHANGES OF FORM ONLY. Of these 285 MINOR CHANGES, there are 214 VERY MINOR CHANGES such as 'towards' for 'toward'; 'burnt' for 'burned'; 'amongst' for 'among'; 'lift' for 'lifted'; and 'you' for 'ye.' These kinds of changes represent 214 out of the 285 minor changes of form only.

"Thus you're talking about ONLY 136 REAL CHANGES out of 791,328 words.

"Many people imply that the KING JAMES BIBLE is completely changed from what they had in 1611, that there are THOUSANDS of differences. You tell them about the MERE 136 CHANGES OF SUBSTANCE plus 285 MINOR CHANGES OF FORM ONLY" (Waite, The Four-fold Superiority of the King James Bible, Bible for Today, 900 Park Ave., Collingswood, NJ 08108).

Friends, do not be deceived by the myths promulgated by those who want to tear down your confidence in the King James Bible in order to replace it with a much inferior version