The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, also known as the Authorized Version, seems to have fallen into disrepute in some church circles. I've even been laughed at in some of the more "progressive" churches for using the KJV.

I'll be the first to admit that the language has changed a bit since 1611. Even though the KJV was published in the seventeenth century, the language in it is sixteenth century English, so the language was little bit archaic even from the beginning.

A few words have changed meanings and there are some grammatical structures which have changed or disappeared altogether, most notably the use of the pronouns thou, thee, and ye and some verb endings. It takes a little getting used to if you haven't read it, but I believe it is well worth the effort.

Despite the language issue, the KJV is still one of the most accurate literal translations of the Bible. The use of those discarded pronouns makes the KJV even more accurate than modern translations. Those lost pronouns refer to the number and case of the second person. In modern English, you fits the bill for everything. In centuries past, you was only one form of the second person pronoun, just as them is only one form of the third person.

Originally, thou, thee, and thy were singular, refering to only one person. Ye, you, and your were plural, refering to two or more. When thou or thee is used in the KJV, the speaker is addressing an individual. If ye or you are used, the speaker is addressing more than one person.

Additionally, the difference between thou and thee, and ye and you, is the same as the difference between I and me. Thou and ye are the subjects of a verb, thee and you the objects. In sixteenth century English, it would be just an incorrect to say, "you walk," as it would to say, "me walk." The correct form, in the plural, is, "Ye walk." In the singular, you would say, "Thou walkest." Similarly, one would not say, "I see you," when speaking to one person. It would have to be, "I see thee."

This brings us to those odd verb endings we no longer use. In modern English, we simply add an "S" to a verb when the subject is the third person singular (he, she, it). In the KJV, the ending "ETH" is used instead. Another ending, "EST," was used for the second person singular. Thus, we have "thou walkest" and "he walketh." The table below shows the various pronouns and the verb forms that accompanied them. It is interesting to note that in the sixteenth century, there was no possessive form of the pronoun it. The ungainly thereof had to be used instead of its.

The KJV is translated virtually word for word from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts and agrees with 95% of the ancient manuscripts. Most modern translations rely heavily on that other 5% of manuscripts, which may disagree wildly with both the Majority Text and each other. I won't get into the fiery debate here over which manuscripts are correct.

As anyone who has ever studied a foreign language knows, it is not always possible to translate something word for word from one language to another. Whenever the King James translators had to insert a word into the translation in order for it to make sense in English, they italicized it. Whenever you come across an italicized word in the KJV, it is not to be emphasized as in modern usage, but is simply to let you know that that word is not in the original languages.

It can be an interesting exercise to read a verse without the italicized words. It rarely changes the meaning, but sometimes gives it a slightly different shade of meaning. I've found that, in many cases, leaving out the italicized words when reading a verse brings it a little closer modern English usage.

KJV Pronouns & Verb Endings
Person	Subject & Verb	Object	Possessive
1 s.	I walk	me	my, mine
2 s.	thou walkest	thee	thy, thine
3 s. (masc.)	he walketh	him	his
3 s. (fem.)	she walketh	her	her, hers
3 s. (inanimate)	it walketh	it	thereof
1 pl.	we walk	us	our, ours
2 pl.	ye walk	you	your, yours
3 pl.	they walk	them	their, theirs