The Book That Changed The World The King James Bible

The 400th Anniversary of one of the best loved Bible translations

The King James Version remains one of the best loved Bible translations and its 400^th anniversary is good reason to cherish and celebrate with a commemorative £2 coin struck by The Royal Mint. The reverse design features the opening words of the Gospel according to John - In the beginning was the Word - shown as printing blocks to the left and the printed page to the right. The words have been rendered in the black letter typeface used in the first edition. The obverse bears The Queen’s portrait by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS while the words THE AUTHORISED VERSION provide a pleasing and appropriate edge inscription.

The new Bible was first published in 1611 and soon became the standard text in English churches. It exerted an enormous influence on the English language and its legacy, not just the influence on later writers but on the fabric of language itself, is manifest throughout the English-speaking world. No other book, not even Shakespeare’s Plays, has given the world so many familiar phrases (salt of the earth, thick as thieves) and so many archetypal contexts and references (the writing on the wall, the fly in the ointment). It has a richness of poetic language on every page; scholars praise it for its majestic style and poetic rhythms and the King James Version remains one of the best loved Bible translations.