Bible Trivia: King James Version
Thou, thee and “suffer the little children.” One translation from 1611 shaped four hundred years of English — a king who ordered it, forty-seven scholars who argued over it, a printer who left out one very important word, a unicorn, words that meant something completely different back then, and a pile of phrases you still say every week without knowing where they came from. Twelve questions a round, drawn at random from a bank of fifty, and every answer shows you where it comes from. Play once for fun, then again to beat your score.
That round walked through the King James Bible itself — a conference at Hampton Court, scholars in Westminster, Oxford and Cambridge, a martyr named Tyndale, words like “quick,” “prevent” and “charity” that meant something else in 1611, and everyday sayings that started life on its pages.
The words are four hundred years old. The walk is today.
The King James translators wanted ordinary people reading the Bible for themselves, in their own language. This free 3-day sample does the same for the Gospels: short daily readings on what Jesus said and did, and what following him looks like in an ordinary week. Plain words, nothing to fall behind on.
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Common Questions About the King James Bible
Why is it called the King James Version?
Because King James I of England ordered it. When James came south from Scotland to take the English throne in 1603, the church was split between two popular translations: the Bishops’ Bible read aloud in churches, and the Geneva Bible that many families kept at home, with notes in the margin the king disliked. At the Hampton Court Conference in January 1604, the Puritan scholar John Rainolds asked for a new translation, and James agreed. About forty-seven scholars worked on it in six teams at Westminster, Oxford and Cambridge, and the finished Bible was printed in London in 1611. The king didn’t translate a word of it himself, but his name has stayed on the cover for more than four hundred years. In Britain it is usually called the Authorised Version, after the line on its title page saying it was “appointed to be read in churches.”
Why does the King James Bible sound so different from modern English?
Partly because it is four centuries old, and partly because it sounded a little old-fashioned even in 1611. The translators deliberately kept older forms like “thou,” “thee” and “-eth” endings, which were already fading from everyday speech, because the Bible was meant to be read aloud in church and they wanted a dignified sound. Those forms also do a job modern English can’t: “thou” always means one person, and “ye” or “you” means more than one. Then there are words whose meanings have simply moved on. “Quick” meant alive. “Prevent” meant go before. “Suffer” meant allow. “Conversation” meant your whole way of life, and “charity” meant self-giving love. Once you know a dozen of these, a lot of the King James suddenly becomes easier to read, which is exactly what this game is built to help with.
Which everyday English sayings come from the King James Bible?
More than most people realise. If you’ve ever escaped “by the skin of your teeth,” called something “a drop in the bucket” or “a fly in the ointment,” said someone is “a law unto themselves,” talked about “the signs of the times,” “the blind leading the blind,” a “labour of love,” a “thorn in the flesh” or being “at your wit’s end,” you’ve quoted the King James Bible. Some of these phrases were first coined by earlier translators like William Tyndale, whose work the King James kept, but the 1611 Bible is what carried them into every home and church in the English-speaking world for three centuries. A few have drifted a little on the way: the King James actually says “in the sweat of thy face,” not “brow,” and Jeremiah’s leopard and his spots started out as a line about how hard it is to change a habit.
Is the King James Version accurate, and is it still worth reading today?
It was a careful, scholarly translation made from the Hebrew and Greek texts available in the early 1600s, and it is still one of the most widely read Bibles in the world. Since then, scholars have found older manuscripts and learned more about ancient Hebrew, so modern translations sometimes differ in small places, such as the KJV’s “unicorn,” which most now read as “wild ox.” None of those differences change the story the Bible tells. Plenty of people read the King James alongside a modern version, using one for its beauty and memorable rhythm and the other for plain everyday clarity. The King James is also in the public domain in most of the world, so it’s free to read, quote and share. And its influence on English literature, from Milton to Lincoln to modern songwriters, means knowing it helps you understand a great deal besides the Bible itself.
How does this King James Bible trivia game work, and can I play it again?
Each round gives you twelve questions drawn at random from a bank of fifty, all written specifically about the King James Bible: how it was made and by whom, the famous printing mistakes, why some words are in italics or small capitals, old words that meant something different in 1611, and everyday phrases that come from its pages. The answer order shuffles every time. After each answer you see the verse or the bit of history it comes from, so a wrong answer still teaches you something. There’s no sign-up, nothing is saved, and your score is just for you, or for sharing with friends, a Bible study group or a class to see who really knows their thee from their thou. Hit Play Again for a fresh mix of questions. Start a round of the King James trivia above.