There has been a remarkable recent discovery which made front page news in the London Times. The oldest remains of any New Testament manuscript were discovered. Using a high-magnification device and the epiflourescent confocal laser scanning technique, the small fragment was dated A.D. 66. Close examination shows that it contains the King James Bible's reading from Matt. 26:22, "hekastos auton," — "every one of them."

It proves wrong the reading on the NIV, NASB, and all new versions which are based on the Critical Greek text which reads, "heis hekastos," "each one" or "one after the other." Dr. Carsten Thiede, author of Eyewitness to Jesus remarked,

It is self-evident that this original reading, preferable on the grounds of internal criteria and now corroborated by the oldest papyrus of St. Matthew's Gospel, must replace the text in the two most widely used versions of the Greek New Testament, that of the United Bible Societies (at the present in its fourth revised edition) and the so-called Nestle-Aland, the Novum Testamentum Graece (now in its twenty-seventh revised edition). At the Munster Institute, which looks after this text, a rearguard action is being mounted, not surprisingly in view of its vested interest in the controversy. One of its staff members, Klaus Wachtel, recently published an article that refuses to acknowledge the change...In any case, it is a form of intellectual resistance which can not last; the facts are now beyond dispute. (pp.61-62)

The King James Bible and its underlying Greek Textus Receptus have had the correct reading all along. History repeats itself. When the other New Testament papyri were discovered , the Nestle-Aland 26th edition was forced to go back to the KJV readings approximately 500 times. New versions have not yet caught up.

The more we magnify the Lord and move closer to him, the more lovely and true he proves to be to us. As we move closer to this gem, the word of God, and it is magnified (Ps. 138:2), studied (2 Tim. 3:16), meditated upon (Ps. 119:148), and glorified (2 Thes. 3:1), we are at once humbled and awe struck by the purity of its many facets.

This new book attempts to examine closely some of the facets of this gem. It also attempts to answer the questions of those who would too quickly exchange the "fire" (Jer. 23:29) of this diamond for a counterfeit, subtly carved out of this spiritual ice age. More than one billion people speak English. The pages of the King James Bible are written with "the point of a diamond" for "the table of their heart" (Jer. 17:1).

WORDS IN THE WORD

1. The King James Bible contains God's Built-in Dictionary, defining each word, in its context, using the very words of the Webster's and Oxford English Dictionaries!
2. The King James Bible has a vocabulary and reading level which slowly builds progressively from Genesis to Revelation.
3. The King James Bible uses words with the appropriate sound symbolism. It has a vocabulary that phonaesthetically fulfills the Bible's own description of itself as "powerful."
4. The King James Bible is the only extant access we have to the pure language lexicons of the 16th and 17th centuries.
5. The King James Bible gives a transparent view of the Greek and Hebrew vocabulary, grammar and syntax.
6. The King James Bible has an internationally recognizable vocabulary and spelling.
7. The King James Bible uses literary devices which enhance doctrinally important concepts and memorability.
8. The King James Bible has a sentence structure which enhances accurate doctrinal interpretation.
9. The King James Bible's words and sentences are patterned and woven through its fabric so as to provide a consistency of form and content.
10. The King James Bible has the precision and longevity of the legal document that it is. (To be equitable, all English speaking persons must be judged by the same criteria.)

This small volume is merely an overview of the subject, written to fulfill the urgent need for such information. Behind it lies mounds of books and walls of file cabinets full of the elaboration and documentation which, if the Lord wills, will take form in the future as a large volume on the subject.

This book is in no way intended to detract from any accurate earlier Bible or foreign translation. As a native speaker of English, living in the twentieth century, the KJV is the Bible through which God speaks to me and with which he has shown me the majesty of the word of God.

Visit Gail Riplinger's website at http://www.avpublications.com.