Yours truly sits at the KJV after reading 1 Kings 1-6
I did my reading this morning, first thing. I sat down at the table on the platform below Art faculty Martha Mason's painting of Jesus on the cross and faced the large Bible on the table stand in front of me. To the left were two bottles of water and a small notebook where we are to sign in and record the chapters read. The Bible lay open to the first chapter I was to read, the black ribbon marker in place.
It was strange, putting my vocal chords to the reading of Scripture in an empty room. I haven't typically read aloud to myself, except once when I wanted to hear the whole book of Winnie the Pooh read with a British accent. (I'm quite capable of "going British" of the occasion presents itself.) I briefly considered the British accent again in honour of King James, but decided against it. This needed to be me, my voice, my usual American accent. And so I started in, the lilt of the words filling the little resonant chapel.
There was something quite wonderful about returning to the wording we used when I was a child. The sentences, for the most part, flowed easily. I got David through his oldest son's insurrection and his own death. I got Solomon through his revenge on his father's enemies, his reception of God's promise of wisdom, and his incident in judging two women in their quarrel over a baby. And I got Solomon's temple built and nearly finished. It was up to Scott, who was following me, to get it done and dedicate it.
It didn't matter about the thee's and thou's, the wither's and whence's (I know those apostrophes don't belong there, but it's hard to make those words plural without them.). The stories flowed along in their old English rhythms, poetic and fluid, as integral to my childhood as those old hymns I love deeply. I had a lovely time. Hearing my own voice reading the stories re-tacked them to the walls of my heart from whence some of them had slipped at least kitty-corner.
I need to read aloud from the Bible more often. Not just a verse or a passage or even a chapter, but chapter after chapter, to get the flow of the story with those "bifocal lenses" that Frazee describes: up close and into the details of the story, and long distance where you can see the interweaving of the story of God with the story of men and women doing everyday things. Yes, I recommend it.
I have recently heard that the KJV was meant to be read aloud, which makes it different than any other translation. It make sense. The masses wouldn't have been reading back in the day, but it as designed to be "read" by the masses.
ReplyDeleteSeveral comments--first, I am saddened that our church has not done much to celebrate this publication anniversary.
ReplyDeleteSecond, a couple of years ago, my husband was lay liturgist at our church and had Psalm 8 to read. He opted to read the KJV rendition--and the wonderful familiar words just overwhelmed him, and he could hardly read the whole way through.
Finally, I read that fascinating book GOD'S SECRETARIES about the translating and compiling of the KJV. One detail was telling--when the committee, for that's what they really were, had to decide between different translation passages--they gathered and HEARD it read aloud. The poetry continues to ring out, even today.
I've read that it takes three days (72 hours) to read the entire Bible through aloud. It took three years to copy one from cover to cover by hand back before the printing press was invented.
ReplyDeleteI love the King James, as it is the Bible of my childhood. Since then, I have worked with the New American Standard Bible, and more recently the "new standard", the New International Version.
None are perfect, but all alike achieve the purpose of communicating the knowledge necessary for salvation. I regret all battles over particular translations, as it seems rather akin to declaring everybody else's wife is ugly because one is taken with one's own wife's comeliness. Each should find the Word of God in a wording that allows him to hear the God who continually speaks to us through His world and through His Word.