Chapter Three   Hampton Court and the English Bible   The deception of the missing verses and changes of modern versions began in 1870. The story is like a mystery novel. But first some background on the true origin of the 1611 English Bible. How much influence did King James I truly have? Let’s examine what actually happened.   With England now the world’s leading power, having defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, a spiritual confusion existed that, until resolved, would threaten the establishment of the British Empire ! What was this disarray that would soon lead to turmoil if not confronted? There were two Bible variations used by the churches: the “Great Bible” and the “Bishop’s Bible;” with the common people using the popular “Geneva Bible” (1560).   In 1603 King James VI of Scotland took the throne of England , after the death of Queen Elizabeth, and became King James I. In his wisdom he called forth a conference to reform the church. In January, 1604 this conference was held at Hampton Court where four men were of the Puritans, nine church of England bishops, and four professors of religion from Oxford and Cambridge . The king entertained grievances, complaints, suggestions, and requests. Yet only one request was granted. That of the Puritan Dr. John Reynolds: that “a translation be made of the whole Bible, as consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Greek; and this to be set out and printed, without any marginal notes (meaning ‘commentary’) and only to be used in all churches of England, in time of divine service”. King James I saw this as an opportunity to have one trusted English Bible, thus he selected 54 men who represented the various faiths in land and set down guidelines and only “authorized” it’s beginning. Seven years later in 1611 the English Bible rolled off the presses (2 printings) of Robert Barker. It became known as the “Authorized” Bible in England , even though there was no royal command or proclamation of parliament. Dr. Lee, Principal of the University of Edinburgh announced “I do not find that there was any canon, proclamation, or act of parliament, to enforce the use of it.“ Further “it has been…ascertained, that neither the king’s private purse, nor the public exchequer, contributed a farthing toward the expense of the translation or publication of the work”. (Dr. Alexander McClure, The Translators Revived, 1858, p. 60). Because Americans refer to this 1611 English Bible as the “King James Bible” there has been confusion about his role. The above facts should clarify this. In fact this incorrect reference to King James in the U.S. and the Englishmen’s use of “Authorized” only came about in the late 19th Century. From 1611 printing the Holy Bible was referred to as “The English Bible”, as now there was only one.   This settling of the confusion of the Holy Word helped resolve not only the study of scripture, but “…it at once formed and fixed (the English) language, till then unsettled; and has since gone with that language to the isles and shores of every sea” (Dr. Alexander McClure, p.72). This was accomplished with the rise and spread of the British Empire .   "At present day, the English (is) probably the vernacular tongue of more millions (now billions) than if any other one language under heaven; and the English Bible has brought and still brings home the knowledge of God’s revealed truth to myriads more (of) minds than ever received it through the original tongues. The Translators little foresaw the vast results and immeasurable influence of what they had thus done, both for time and for eternity" (Excerpt from the ‘Report of the Committee on Versions’ of the American Bible Society, 1851.   An exploration as to who these men were will be addressed in a subsequent chapter. Suffice it to note that each of these Englishmen’s use of language and scholarship can rarely be found today in even one person! Copyright 2011 Stephen and Lola Lee Grisham. All Rights Reserved. Concerning Hubble Images, Non-commercial use: For all its copyrighted materials, STScI allows reproduction, authorship of derivative works, and other transformations of the original work strictly for educational and research purposes without further permission, and subject to the General Conditions. For other non-commercial uses, permission should be obtained from AURA/STScI http://hubblesite.org/copyright/.