The Cool of the Morning

In Vol. 12 No. 2 of the Journal of Christian Reconstruction: Symposium on the Biblical Text and Literature, 1989, R.J. Rushdoony wrote an interesting note about the language of the King James Version. He wrote:

One of the charges consistently leveled against the King James Version is that its language is archaic and obsolete. The answer is a simple one: it is intended to be. In 1611 the King James Version was as “out of date” as it is today. Compare the writings of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, King James I, and John Lyly with the King James Version and this becomes quickly apparent. The translators avoided the speech of their day for a basic English which would be simple, timeless, and beautiful, and they succeeded. Their version spoke from outside their age and tradition with elemental simplicity. Their wisdom here exceeds that of their successors. Nothing seems more ridiculous than an outdated “modern” translation…. [If] we consider our age and its requirements as normative, we can involve ourselves in absurdities….

The issue is not that the Bible should speak our every-day language, for this involves debasement, but that it should be understandable, and here, all arguments to the contrary notwithstanding, the King James speaks a language which, while sometimes difficult because the matter itself is so, is more often simple, clear-cut and beautiful. Some modern versions are very helpful, but none equal the King James in its clarity and memorable beauty (12-13).

I had never thought of it that way. The Scriptures most certainly must be understandable, for if they are not understandable, then it might as well be left untranslated. But it seems that a new version of the Bible comes out every year, and for the most part these new translations are necessary because the translations which are thirty to fifty years old are out of date. They are unintelligible to us because they are speaking the common language of their day, which has changed dramatically in the past fifty years.

In the King James Version, you do not have the opportunity for misunderstanding which you could have if they had written it in their common tongue. Instead, they sought to use a language which was clear and timeless so that their translation would not become out of date quickly.

One thing is for certain: no one is going to misunderstood what “cool” means when Genesis says that Adam was walking in the Garden in the cool of the morning.