The greatness of the King James Version of the Bible

...by a Revised Standard Version reviser:

“The greatness of the King James Version of the Bible—and beyond all cavil it is one of the great Bible translations—lies, as every reader recognizes, in its superb literary qualities. Commonly it has been pointed out that the King James Version was created in the great, the classic age, one might say, of the language. But what is almost as commonly overlooked is that it owes its merit, not at all to seventeenth century English—which was far different—but to its faithful rendering of the original. The style of the English Bible is the style of the Hebrew, and of the Koiné Greek of New Testament times. Rather than a child of seventeenth century English, it is parent of the English of today. Its lucid clarity has established itself as the standard of good writing; its great phrases have passed over into common usage; many of its figures of speech have established themselves in the language as indigenous English.” 

William A. Irwin, from An Introduction to the Revised Standard Version of the Old Testament, as quoted by Oswald T. Allis in  Revised Version or Revised Bible? A Critique of the Revised Standard Version of the Old Testament (1952)