King James

No, not Lebron.  The English Royal, King James I, the one with the Bible named after him. When I was a kid, I thought God had dictated the Bible directly to the pen of King James. So when “Revised Standard” and "New Revised" versions started appearing, I was suspicious.  On whose authority?

Actually .. The King James Bible was written between 1604-1611 and contains 66 books, 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament.  The Bible contains texts that are central to both Christianity and Judaism, is a source of spiritual guidance, faith teachings, sermons, parables, teachings from the life of Jesus and early Christians and Jewish traditions. 

The source documents for the New Testament were the Textus Receptus, a series of Greek texts from the 16th century. The Old Testament was a revision of the Bishop’s Bible utilizing Hebrew and Aramaic Masoretic Text, the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible. The translations were accomplished by 27 scholars, all members of the clergy of the Church of England. 

For me the beauty and lyricism of the language makes King James my preferred text. I struggle with contemporary translations. Jesus to Lazarus, "Dude, it's time to wake up".  Nope.  I think I'll stick with "Lazarus, come forth".

The Bible is of course central to the theology of Christianity and Judaism, but it has also impacted the everyday speech for the English speaking world. And it has inspired architects, painters, sculptors, writers, musicians and poets for centuries.  And of course, the jewelry industry.

But the English of 1611 contains many now archaic, obsolete words and phrases, usages and words whose meanings have changed over the past 400 years. This injects a level of confusion for the contemporary reader.  

Most commonly the obscure language in the King James Bible gets dismissed and skipped over with little thought - unless you are a Biblical scholar. So, it is with some degree of joy I’ve discovered a book, Mene, Mene, Tekel, a lexicon of words from the Bible, which attempts to explain some of the mysterious King James language and the sources of common English phrases.

Here's a sampling from the lexicon.

Common phrases you might not realize are Biblical

1. Adam’s Apple.  [Some accounts of the fall from Paradise have it that a piece of the forbidden fruit lodged in Adam’s throat - hence “Adam’s Apple”]    Genesis 3  
2. God Save the King.  [Brits grabbed it]    I Samuel 10:24 
3. The grain of a mustard seed.  [see also tall oaks from little acorns grow]    Mark 4:31
4. Our daily bread.  [Prayer for necessities not luxuries]     Matthew 6:11  
5. Separate the sheep from the goats.  [Slander of goats]    Matthew 25:32  
6. The skin of our teeth  [a near run thing]     Job 19:20 
7. Sign of the times     Matthew 16:3  
8. Suffer fools gladly  II Corinthians 11:19  
9. Swords into plowshares    Isaiah 2:4  
10. A thousand years are but as yesterday   Psalm 90:4 
11. To everything there is a season    Ecclesiastes 3:1
12. Turn the other cheek   Matthew 5:39 
13. Vanity of vanities   Ecclesiastes 1:2  
14. Wars and rumors of wars   Mark 13:7 
15. Feet of clay  Daniel 2:33  
16. Fight the good fight   I Timothy 6:12 
17. Kiss of death   Mark 14:45  
18. Labor of love   I Thessalonians 1:3 
19. A lamb to the slaughter   Isaiah 53:7  
20. A man after one's own heart   I Samuel 13:14  
21. No room at the inn    Luke 2:7  
22. Pearls before swine  Matthew 7:6  
23. The salt of the earth  Matthew 5:13 
24. Sour grapes   Ezekiel 18:2  
25. The stars in their courses   Judges 5:20  
26. The widow's mite   Mark 12:42 
27. Blind leading the blind  Matthew 15:14
28. Nothing new under the sun  Ecclesiastes 1:9 
29. Through a glass darkly  1 Corinthians 13:12
30. In the twinkling of an eye  1 Corinthians 15:52 

Puzzlers

1. Bowels of compassion.  [In the 17th century, the bowels were considered the seat of sympathetic emotions, so there it is in John]   I John 3:17 
2. You cannot serve God and Mammon   i.e. God vs. wealth.  [In  America, it seems God is not a close second]   Matthew 6:24 
3. A pale horse.  [The 4th of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - death]   Revelations 6:8  
4. Balaam's ass.  [Prototype of Mr. Ed]   Numbers 22   
5. The Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit ... Blessed are the meek ...   Matthew 5  
6. A brother to dragons, a companion to owls.  [An outcast]   Job 30:29  
7. The halt and the blind. [halt as in lame]    Luke 14:21 
8. Strain at a gnat, swallow a camel.  [Don't spend time on the trivial]   Matthew 23:24  
9. The voice of the turtle   Song of Solomon 2:12  
10. Hosanna.  Save we pray  Mark 11:9
11. The mark of Cain   Genesis 4:15  

Ponderables

1. Depart in Peace.  Simeon sees the infant Jesus and utters, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace” indicating he was now ready to die.  [Often the final words of a Lutheran church service are “Depart in Peace”   Hmm]   Luke 2:29.
2. Kick against the pricks. [Engage in repeated self defeating behavior]  Acts 9:5  
3. Cast your bread upon the waters.  [Act charitably without the expectation of return]  Ecclesiastes 11:1 
4. A jewel of gold in a swine's snout.  [Outer beauty but inner not so much]   Proverbs 11:22  
5. Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. [Forseeing a time when there is no evil. Hard to imagine]   Joel 2:28 

Life Lessons

1. Entertain angels unawares.  [A caution to treat all people well because you just never know] Hebrews 13:2
2. Let not your left hand know what your right hand does.  [Don’t blow your own horn]  Matthew 6:3
3. Lift the needy out of the dung hill.  Psalm 113:7  
4. Love thy neighbor  Matthew 22:39  
5. Many shall come in my name.  [Beware of false messiahs]  Mark 13:6 
6. The race is not to the swift  Ecclesiastes 9:11 
7. The rich have many friends.  [Why do we behave like sycophants before the wealthy?]  Proverbs 14:20  
8. The sabbath was made for man.  [But going to the casino Sunday morning instead of church is pushing it]   Mark 2:27 
9. What is man that thou art mindful of him?  [An insignificant thing.  see also: the musical Hair]  Psalm 8:4  
10. Where the carcass, there are the eagles.  Matthew 24:28  
11. A soft answer turneth away wrath.  Proverbs 15:1  
12. Pride goeth before a fall   Proverbs 16:18  
13. Six things doth the Lord hate   Proverbs 6:16-19    
14. Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake  I Timothy 5:23 

The go to source for book titles

1. Behold a Pale Horse - Milton Cooper  Revelations 6:8  
2. Absalom, Absalom! - William Faulkner  2 Samuel 19:4
3. Generation of Vipers  - Philip Wylie   Matthew 3:7  
4. Giants in the Earth - Ole Rolvaag   Genesis 6:4  
5. The Golden Bowl - Henry James   Ecclesiastes 12:6
6. Inherit the Wind - Jerome Lawrence  Proverbs 11:29  
7. The Sheep from the Goats - John Simon  Matthew 25:32  
8. The Skin of Our Teeth - Thornton Wilder  Job 19:20  
9. A Still Small Voice - John Reed  I Kings 19:12  
10. The Last Adam - James Gould Cozzens  I Corinthians 15:45   
11. Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman  Psalm 90   
12. Uncertain Trumpet - Maxwell Taylor   I Corinthians 14:8   
13. A Rumor of War - Philip Caputo  Mark 13:7  
14. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein   Exodus 2:22
15. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck  Revelations 14:19  
16. East of Eden - John Steinbeck    Genesis 4:16
17. Bury the Dead - Irwin Shaw   Matthew 8:22  
18. Through the Eye of a Needle - Peter Brown  Mark 10:25  
19. The Just and the Unjust  - James Gould Cozzens  Matthew 5:45  
20. Lilies of the Field  - William E.  Barrett     Matthew 6:28
21. Cloud of Witnesses - Dorothy L. Sayers   Hebrews 12:1
22. Fear and Trembling  - Søren Kierkegaard    Philippians 2:12
23. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway     Ecclesiastes 1:5

An obscurity

Jael, one tough cookie.  She drove a tent spike through the temple of the commander of the Canaanites  Judges 5:26  

Numerology

144,000

666

40

12

7

3

And of course, all of Handel's Messiah.

Copyright © 2026  Dave Hoplin