REFORMATION HERITAGE STUDY BIBLE – KJV
Edited by Joel Beeke
Reformation Heritage Books.
2217 pages. £26.41
ISBN 978 1 601 783 240
Although translated at the beginning of the 17th century, some Christians still treasure the King James Version (KJV) or Authorised Version (AV) of the Bible. Certainly its language is majestic and has beautifully influenced the English language over the centuries.
Set out in a similar style to other study Bibles with footnotes and articles, this gigantic publication based on the AV text will prove a help to many people. Each book of Scripture is given an introduction with a synopsis of its contents. The footnotes are full of insight, but it is rather an anachronism that many of them consist simply of bringing the language up to date for modern readers e.g. Genesis 19.24-25 ‘brimstone’, we are told, means ‘sulphur’; Genesis 19.27 ‘gat up’ is to be understood as ‘got up’. This all seems rather strange.