2. No marginal notes were to be attached except for the explanation of Greek or Hebrew words or for providing cross-references.
3. Tyndale's translation (c.1526), Matthew's (1537), Coverdale's (1535), The Great Bible (1539), and the Geneva (1560) were to be used when they agreed better with the text than the Bishops' Bible.
The same portion of Scripture was translated by each of the other men of that company. Afterward, all the members of the group came together and thrashed out the differences. When a book was completed in this manner, it was sent to the other five groups for review and suggestions. Two men from each group formed a special screening committee to examine the final product. The meetings of the three companies took another three years (1607-1609). Each of these men believed that the text at his disposal was the infallible Word of God. There has never been a committee working on a translation of the Bible with such scholarship and dedication. Regarding this, McClure states:
"As to the capability of those men, ... by the good providence of God, their work was undertaken in a fortunate time. Not only had the English language, that singular compound, then ripened to its full perfection, but the study of Greek, and of the oriental tongues, and of rabbinical lore, had then been carried to a greater extent in England than ever before or since. This particular field of learning has never been so highly cultivated among English divines.1
Most were professors and/or preachers. The 12th rule required every Bishop to have small portions of the project circulated and displayed in public places throughout his diocese as it came from the translators' pens and to encourage recommendations.2 This placed the entire work open to the populace so that the whole nation of England could take part in its production. Hundreds of laymen, priests, and preachers who knew Greek and/or Hebrew offered suggestions.
Whereas the King's translators were instructed that the Bishops' Bible was to be their main guide and it to be altered only "as the truth of the original will permit", only about four percent of the King James Bible is, in fact, drawn from that version. The new translation agreed much more with the Geneva than with any other.3 Over ninety percent of the language of the New Testament is from Tyndale's translation. The rhythmical diction and style imparting literary grace, majesty, and character found throughout the KJB came from this martyr's pen.
For the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, they used the four Hebrew Bibles then available. For the New Testament Greek text, they used the work of Theodore Beza, the associate of John Calvin, who had revised the Greek texts of Erasmus and Stephens (Stephanus). Besides these, many other ancient translations were referred to and considered. Words which were not in the original language but which the translators found necessary to add in order to complete the sense, were especially flagged and appear in our modern King James Bibles in italics.
When all the books had been translated, two men from each company at Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford came together and carefully considered the completed work of each of the three companies. Finally, two men reviewed that product; thus each Scripture was examined at least 14 times. Consequently, we have seen that the revision of 1611 was neither a private endeavor nor was it an enterprise of King James VI (I) as Sir Frederick Kenyon aptly reminds us:
1. Mclure, The Translators Revived, op. cit., pp. 63-64.
2. Ibid., pp. 66 & 69.
3. Ibid., p.67.
