Happy birthday KJVB! No, I’m not referring to the awesome soft and lite radio station KJVB broadcasting out of central Missouri. I’m talking about the King James Version of the Bible. It was published 400 years ago.  Oxford Biblical Studies Online allows you to use the side-by-side display to compare the texts of the Ten Commandments (Decalogue) from the various translations of the Bible. Some of the differences between the NRSV and the King James Version include:

King James	NRSV
graven image	idol
“the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”	“the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.”
manservant/maid-servant	slave
kill	murder

But wait!  There’s more.  You can also use Oxford Biblical Studies Online to:

• Go further in depth with articles on graven images and idolatry from The Oxford Companion to the Bible
• Review the biblical definition of murder
• Examine verse-by-verse commentary on the Decalogue from The Oxford Bible Commentary
• Explore the historicity of Exodus in this introduction from the New Oxford Annotated Bible
• Find background on issues relating to competing translations in the Historical Survey of Translations from The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible
• See exclusive new content on Exodus from the forthcoming Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible

Just to get a conversation going, I ask all my readers (you know who you are – oh lonely reader) to explain why the King James version of the Bible is such a big deal.  I ask that you cite your sources too.  Hey, what a fun little assignment!

Thanks to the Oxford University Press for this summary of Oxford Biblical Studies Online.