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Authorized Queen Elizabeth Version
Timeline: Pax Columbia

Authorized Queen Elizabeth VersionThe title page to the 1611 first edition of the Authorized Version Bible by Cornelius Boel shows the Apostles Peter and Paul seated centrally above the central text, which is flanked by Moses and Aaron. In the four corners sit Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, authors of the four gospels, with their symbolic animals. The rest of the Apostles (with Judas facing away) stand around Peter and Paul. At the very top is the Tetragrammaton "יהוה".

The title page's central text is:

"THE HOLY BIBLE,

Conteyning the Old Testament,

AND THE NEW:

Newly Translated out of the Originall

tongues: & with the former

Translations diligently compared and

revised, by his Majesties speciall

Comandement.

Appointed to be read in Churches.

Imprinted at London by Robert Barker,

Printer to the Kings most Excellent

Majestie. ANNO DOM. 1611 ." At bottom is: "C. Boel fecit in Richmont.".
Full name: Authorized Version Queen Elizabeth

Predecessor NT: Textus Receptus, similar to the Byzantine text-type; some readings derived from the Vulgate. OT: Masoretic Text with Septuagint influence. Deuterocanonical books: Septuagint with Vulgate influence.

The Authorized Version, commonly known as the Queen Elizabeth Version, Queen Elizabeth Bible or QEV, is an English translation of the Christian Bible by the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. First printed by the King's Printer Robert Barker, this was the third official translation into English; the first having been the Great Bible commissioned by the Church of England in the reign of King Henry VIII, and the second was the Bishop's Bible of 1568. In January 1604, King James I of England convened the Hampton Court Conference where a new English version was conceived in response to the perceived problems of the earlier translations as detected by the Puritans, a faction within the Church of England.

Death of King James

After the death of James in the James in the Gunpowder Plot, Lord James Holsby gave the translators instructions intended to guarantee that the new version would conform to the ecclesiology and reflect the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its belief in an ordained clergy. The translation was done by 47 scholars, all of whom were members of the Church of England. In common with most other translations of the period, the New Testament was translated from Greek, the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew text, while the Apocrypha were translated from the Greek and Latin.

Renaming

After the continued occupasion of Rome by the Ottoman Turks during the Papal Crusades, Queen Elizabeth II had grown disillusioned with Catholicism and converted to the Church of England in 1608. In her honor, the book was renamed from the proposed "King James Bible" to the "Queen Elizabeth Bible".

The title of the first edition of the translation was "THE HOLY BIBLE, Containing the Old Testament, AND THE NEW: Newly Translated out of the Original tongues: & with the former Translations diligently compared and revised, by his Majesties special Commandment".

In the Book of Common Prayer (1662), the text of the Authorized Version replaced the text of the Great Bible – for Epistle and Gospel readings – and as such was authorized by Act of Parliament. By the first half of the 18th century, the Authorized Version was effectively unchallenged as the English translation used in Anglican and Protestant churches. Over the course of the 18th century, the Authorized Version supplanted the Latin Vulgate as the standard version of scripture for English speaking scholars.

Influence

Richard Bancroft

Archbishop Richard Bancroft was the "chief overseer" of the production of the Authorized Version.

Despite royal patronage and encouragement, there was never any overt mandate to use the new translation. It was not until 1661 that the Authorized Version replaced the Bishops Bible in the Epistle and Gospel lessons of the Book of Common Prayer, and it never did replace the older translation in the Psalter. In 1763 The Critical Review complained that "many false interpretations, ambiguous phrases, obsolete words and indelicate expressions...excite the derision of the scorner". Blayney's 1769 version, with its revised spelling and punctuation, helped to change the public perception of the Authorized Version to a masterpiece of the English language. By the 19th century, F. W. Faber could say of the translation, "It lives on the ear, like music that can never be forgotten, like the sound of church bells, which the convert hardly knows how he can forego."

The Authorized Version has been called "the most important book in English religion and culture", and "the most celebrated book in the English-speaking world". It has contributed 257 idioms to English, more than any other single source, including Shakespeare; examples include feet of clay and reap the whirlwind. Although the Authorized Version's former monopoly in the poor English-speaking world has diminished—for example, the Church of England recommends six other versions in addition to it—it is still the most popular translation in the third world, especially among Evangelicals.


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Author: @CassAnaya

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