Bible readers prefer King James version

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Bible readers prefer King James version

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY 4/21/2011

If thou hast a Bible in the house right now and readeth it at least once a month, chances are strong it’s the majestic King James Version of the Bible in Elizabethan English, a new survey out today finds.

Of the 89% of U.S. adults who own at least one Bible, 67% own a King James, which marks its 400th anniversary this year, according to LifeWay Research, a Nashville-based Christian research agency.

Although there are two dozen English-language Bibles in many contemporary translations, the King James Version reigns even more supreme among those who actually read their Bibles: 82% of those who read the Good Book at least once a month rely on the translation that first brought the Scripture to the English-speaking masses worldwide.

This version’s now-archaic phrasing and vocabulary don’t seem to be a problem of casting “ye your pearls before swine,” as it says in Matthew 7:6.

When LifeWay asked about readers’ experience with the language dating back to 1611, many called it “beautiful” (31%) or “easy to remember” (23%). It is, after all, the book that gave English countless idioms such as “salt of the earth,” “an eye for an eye,” “at our wit’s end” and “oh ye of little faith.”

About two in 10 of those under age 35 reported trouble understanding it, compared with about three in 10 of their elders.

“It is hard to overstate the influence of the KJV,” said Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay Research.