I came across this the other day and needed a place to store and remember it. It’s a list of changes from the 1611 KJV to the (more popular) 1769 KJV. I don’t know if it’s exhaustive, but I did look up a few of them. KJVOs crack me up. ..except when they go overboard, because then they’re guilty of idolatry.
• Ruth 3:15 — ‘…and *he* went into the city.’ Today’s KJVs read ‘…and *she* went into the city.’
• Psalm 69:32 — ‘…and your heart shall liue that seeke *goode*.’ Today’s KJVs read, ‘…and your heart shall live that seek *God*.’
• Jeremiah 34:16 — ‘…and euery man his handmaide, whom *yee* had set at libertie….’ Today’s KJVs read, ‘…and every man his handmaid, whom *he* had set at liberty….’
These are clear changes in substance.
The 1611 original also had over 8,000 marginal notes suggesting alternative translations and uncertainty about some words in the original languages. Yet KJVOs often vilify modern versions for just that.
Also, the original 1611-KJV contained the Apocrypha, including cross references to the Apocrypha in the canonical books, without any disclaimer that the references weren’t to inspired Scripture:
• Daniel 8:25 — the note in the margin reads, ‘2 Macc. 6:9,’ a cross-reference to a book of 2 Maccabees in the Apocrypha
• Matthew 6:7 — the note in the margin reads, ‘Ecclus. 7:16,’ a cross-reference to a book of Ecclesiasticus in the Apocrypha
• Matthew 23:37 — the note in the margin reads, ‘Wisd. 2:15,16,’ a cross-reference to a book of Wisdom in the Apocrypha
• Matthew 27:43 — the note in the margin reads, ‘4 Esd. 1:30,’ a cross-reference to a book of 4 Esdra in the Apocrypha
• Luke 14:13 — the note in the margin reads, ‘Tob. 4:7,’ a cross-reference to a book of Tobit in the Apocrypha
• John 10:22 — the note in the margin reads, ‘1 Macc. 4:59,’ a cross-reference to a book of 1 Maccabees in the Apocrypha
• Hebrews 11:35 — the note in the margin reads, ‘2 Macc. 7:7,’ a cross-reference to a book of 2 Maccabees in the Apocrypha
And why did their ‘Scripture’ reading schedule include apocryphal books?
Some marginal notes in the KJV-1611:
• Judges 19:2 — ‘Or, a yeere and foure moneths. Heb. dayes, foure moneths’
• Ezra 10:40 — ‘Or, Mabnadebai, according to some copies’
• Psalm 102:3 — ‘Or, (as some reade) into smoke’
• Matthew 1:11 — ‘Some reade, Iosias begate Iakim, and Iakim begat Iechonias’
• Matthew 26:26 — ‘Many Greeke copies haue, gaue thanks.’
• Mark 7:3 — ‘Or, diligently, in the originall, with the fist: Theophilact, up to the elbowe.’
• Luke 10:22 — ‘Many ancient copies adde these words, And turning to his Disciples he said’
• Luke 17:36 — ‘This 36. verse is wanting in most of the Greek copies’
• John 18:13 — a marginal note indicating that this verse, which is identical to verse 24, appears in verse 13 is some manuscripts
• Acts 1:20 — the note in the margin reads, ‘Or, office: or, charge’ — often used in modern translations, a less Anglican translation than ‘Bishopricke.’
• Acts 13:18, 34 — a marginal note containing the Greek text of an alternate reading ‘according to the Sept. [Septuagint — which Waite vilifies!] and so Chrysost.’ [John Chrystostom, one of the church fathers], as well as a cross-reference to the Apocrypha (2 Maccabees 7:27)
• Acts 25:6 — ‘Or, as some copies reade, no more then eight or ten dayes’
• Ephesians 6:9 — ‘Some reade, both your, and their master’
• James 2:18 — ‘Some copies reade, by thy workes’
• 1 Peter 2:21 — ‘Some reade, for you’
• 2 Peter 2:2, 11, 18 — three alternate readings in the margins on the same page
• 2 John 8 — ‘Or, gained. Some copies reade, which yee haue gained, but that ye receiue &c.’
The common KJVO charge is that marginal notes confuse readers …
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