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Friday, January 05, 2024

King James Bible for Catholics?

I mention this only as an intriguing curiosity, and not as something I see as a good thing. In September 2020, an outfit called Walsingham Publishing in Acton, Massachusetts produced The King James Bible for Catholics in two volumes. The more complete titles are:

  • The King James Bible for Catholics with the Deuterocanonical Books and The Prayer of Manasses, I Esdras and II Esdras: Volume I - Genesis to Ecclesiasticus
  • The King James Bible for Catholics with the Deuterocanonical Books and The Prayer of Manasses, I Esdras and II Esdras: Volume II - Isaiah to Revelation

This Roman Catholic edition is based on the 1611 KJV text with spelling and orthographic changes from the 1769 Oxford edition, edited by Benjamin Blayney. There are a few textual modifications that bring it in line with Catholic strictures. One thorough change is replacing “Jehovah” (and JAH) with “The Lord” in the eight places where these words appear in the KJV. This subjects the KJV text to the instruction from the Roman Catholic Congregation for Divine Worship Statement on the Name of God.[i] The deuterocanonical books (called the Apocrypha and diminished in authority in the KJV) are spread out into the Old Testament canon in the way they appear in fully Catholic Bibles. This Bible has some footnotes, which probably correspond somewhat with the notes HERE.

The motivation for creating this Bible rests not in the Roman Catholic Church beginning to lean to some kind of preference toward the KJV. Instead it is related to the Ordinariate, a Roman Catholic structure for Anglicans, Episcopalians, and Methodists to reunite with the Catholic Church while preserving some elements of their liturgy.[ii] Additionally, it is a recognition that “The King James Bible has had more influence on English language and culture than any other book ever published.”


[i] Statement on the Name of God: “The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacrament has issued guidance to Bishops’ Conferences on the translation of the ‘Name of God’ in texts for use in the liturgy. The directives expand on the instruction Liturgiam Authenticam and note that the Hebrew Tetragrammaton YHWH, Yahweh or Jehovah, has in the tradition of the Church always been translated as ‘Lord’.” It is further indicated that this instruction is at least partially based not only on church tradition, but also because Jews find the pronunciation of Jehovah or Yahweh offensive.
[ii] Some Catholics have pushed back at this edition being a violation of their Canon Law 825 §1. “Books of the sacred scriptures cannot be published unless the Apostolic See or the conference of bishops has approved them. For the publication of their translations into the vernacular, it is also required that they be approved by the same authority and provided with necessary and sufficient annotations.”

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