gelistic Grant Charter to settle the Colony of Virginia. Not only was King James the first monarch to unite Scotland, England, and Ireland into Great Britain, but he commissioned what many consider to be the greatest piece of religious and literary work in the world- the Authorized King James Version of the Bible. King James gave his subjects the greatest gift he could, which was the Holy Bible so that they could be saved and fed by the Word of God. In January of 1604, the King called the Hampton Court Conference in order to hear of things “pretended to be amiss” in the church. At this conference, Dr. John Reynolds requested a new translation of the Bible because those that were allowed during the reigns of Henry the VIII and Edward the VI were corrupt. The King loved the idea and by July of 1604 the King had appointed 54 men to the translation committee. These men were not only the best linguists and scholars in the kingdom but in the world. The translators were organized into six groups. They spent most of their lifetimes in the pursuit of God and knowledge. Some wrote foreign language dictionaries, they commonly debated in Greek, translated and edited great works, and wrote their own. They not only knew the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek biblical languages but also the related languages such as Arabic, Persian, Coptic, Syriac, Latin, Chaldee, Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch. These men were not only world class scholars but also Christians who lived holy lives as Deans and Presidents of major universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster. Some prayed 5 hours a day. Their translation work did not go without opposition. According to the translator's notes in the preface of the King James Bible, the Catholic religion was dead set against translating the Bible into the common tongue. Despite the opposition of the Catholic religion, the work continued and the end product was nothing short of miraculous. Though King Ja...
