the KJV translators

[Jordan Kurecki]

The following quote is from D.A. Waite's book "Defending the King James Bible"

THREE SUPERIOR KING JAMES OLD TESTAMENT TRANSLATORS.

1. The Accomplishments of Lancelot Andrews. First we will consider the Old Testament translators of the KING JAMES BIBLE and the accomplishments of Dr. Lancelot Andrews. He was the president or director of the Westminster group that translated twelve books altogether, from Genesis to 2 Kings. That was the task of Company One.

a. First of all, he acquired most of the modern languages of Europe at the University of Cambridge. He gave himself chiefly to the Oriental tongues and to divinity [this is from TRANSLATORS REVIVED by Alexander McClure, p. 78].

b. Second, Lancelot Andrews' manual for his private devotions, prepared by himself, is wholly in the Greek language. You can see the man was accomplished. Many Christians today don't even have private daily devotions. Of those who do, how many do you know who have made up private devotions manuals? And of the people who have made up private devotions manuals, how many do you know who have written them wholly in the Greek language? This most certainly indicates a linguistic superiority. [op. cit., p. 86]

c. Third, "Such was his skill in all languages, especially the Oriental, that had he been present at the confusion of tongues at Babel, he might have served as interpreter-general." [op. cit., p. 86] That is a great statement, isn't it?

d. Fourth, "In his funeral sermon by Dr. Buckeridge, Bishop of Rochester, it is said that Dr. Andrews was conversant with FIFTEEN LANGUAGES." [op. cit., p. 87] Certainly he was a respected and superior translator. I don't know of any of these modern translators of the AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION, NEW AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NEW ENGLISH VERSION, etc. who are conversant with as many as fifteen languages, do you?

2. The Acumen of William Bedwell. Dr. William Bedwell was also in Company One, the Westminster group translating the books of Genesis through 2 Kings from the Hebrew into the English. Let us note a few things about him:

a. First, he was justly reputed to be "an eminent Oriental scholar."
b. Second, his fame for Arabic learning was so great that scholars sought him out for assistance. To him belongs, as

McClure stated:

"the honor of being the first who considerably promoted and revived the study of the Arabic language and literature in Europe." [op. cit., p. 101]

c. Third, in Antwerp, in 1612, he published in quarto an edition of the Epistles of St. John in Arabic with a Latin version. Now, I don't know anything about Arabic, but to have an edition of 1, 2, and 3rd John with Latin and Arabic would take a tremendously capable scholar, a capable BUILDER of this building, the KING JAMES BIBLE.

d. Fourth, he also left many Arabic manuscripts in the University of Cambridge, with numerous notes and a font of types for printing them.

e. Fifth, for many years he was engaged in compiling an Arabic lexicon in three volumes [a lexicon is a dictionary]. [op. cit., pp. 100-101]

f. Sixth, as McClure wrote:

"Some modern scholars [in 1857 when McClure wrote his book] have fancied we have an advantage in our times over the translators of the KING JAMES days of 1611 by reason of the greater attention which is supposed to be paid at present [in 1857] to what are called the 'COGNATE' and 'Shemitic' languages, especially the Arabic, by which much light is thought to be reflected on Hebrew words and phrases. It is evident, however, that Mr. Bedwell and others among his fellow laborers, were THOROUGHLY CONVERSANT in this part of the broad field of sacred criticism."

g. Seventh, Dr. Bedwell also began a Persian dictionary, which is among Archbishop Laud's manuscripts still preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. [op. cit., pp. 101-102]

This William Bedwell, with his Arabic, Persian, and other Oriental languages, was greatly superior to our modern translators. Many modern "translators" come up to a word, and in a footnote somewhere. or in an index at the bottom of the page, they'll say the meaning of this Hebrew word is uncertain; so they have some other rendition of it. Well, the meaning of it is uncertain, perhaps, to these men who were living in 1960, when the NASV came out, in 1969, when the NIV came out or in 1979, when the New KING JAMES came out; but these men who translated the KING JAMES BIBLE knew their cognate languages well. They understood these references and there was no question in their minds about what most of these words meant. It is a strange thing; yet people doubt and question the authenticity, superiority, and the knowledge of these KING JAMES TRANSLATORS. Cognate languages are simply sister languages related to Hebrew like Arabic, Persian, Syriac, Aramaic, Coptic, and so on. They are related like brother and sister.

A word may not be clear, or maybe the word is what they call a hapaxlegomenon. Hapax means "once" andlegomenon means "spoken or written." This particular word was used only once in all the New Testament Greek or Old Testament Hebrew. So it is difficult to tell sometimes what these hapaxlegomena (in the plural) mean. They go to other sources to try to understand the meaning. The translators of the KING JAMES, who knew Arabic, Persian,

Aramaic, Coptic, and all the various cognate languages, could go to these languages and understand very clearly. But the men living today, because they don't know these cognate languages as well [they don't know fifteen languages like Andrews for example], just throw up their hands and say the meaning of the Hebrew is not certain.

[Jordan Kurecki]

For some reason I can't post a second reply to this thread. To see more info on the KJV Translators see https://www.baptistboard.com/threads/the-kjv-translators-superior-language-skills.109725/#post-2441561

Edited September 8, 2018 by Jordan Kurecki

[Alan]

Jordan,

As per your request, I did check out your posting concerning the KJV thread on the Baptist Board. I still see that the brethren in the Baptist Board are still giving you a hard time. Keep up the good work. 

Alan

[Jordan Kurecki]

3 minutes ago, Alan said:

Jordan,

As per your request, I did check out your posting concerning the KJV thread on the Baptist Board. I still see that the brethren in the Baptist Board are still giving you a hard time. Keep up the good work. 

Alan

Yes.. the BB is a mess theologically. There are a few sound people over there whose posts I enjoy reading.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Jordan Kurecki