Proclaimer Blog
The vernacular Bible for you
Last week, Mrs R and I went to see the National Theatre's Hamlet with its excellent £10 ticket scheme. It was an incredible evening. I don't mind watching Shakespeare, but it is frankly hard work. Rewarding ultimately, of course, but hard work. I find (and perhaps I'm just a thicky) that you need to interpret as you go along – seeing it helps as you can work out what some of the more obscure or inverted dialogue means.
Whatever else the King James version may have been in its life, it is not now a vernacular Bible. It is not written in a language most of us can speak. It contains occasional words that we would find offensive and not read out in church (e.g. 2 Kings 18.27). It has some passages (especially OT prophecy) which were apparently inpenetrable when they were written, let alone now. A case in point is Micah 1.11:
Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: The inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel; He shall receive of you his standing.
[Compare NIV
Pass on in nakedness and shame, you who live in Shaphir. Those who live in Zaanan will not come out. Beth Ezel is in mourning; its protection is taken from you.]