1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Featured The reading level of different versions

Discussion in 'Bible Versions & Translations' started by Salty, Apr 30, 2020.

  1. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2003
    Messages:
    38,982
    Likes Received:
    2,615
    Faith:
    Baptist
    So what is the reading level of the KJV?
    Not just a few selected verses or chapters - but rather the version as a whole!

    Click here for discussion
     
  2. Just_Ahead

    Just_Ahead Active Member

    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2018
    Messages:
    442
    Likes Received:
    153
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Interesting discussion. Thank you for posting the link.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  3. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2003
    Messages:
    38,982
    Likes Received:
    2,615
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I found it when I was trying to answer someone on FB who said the KJ is on a 4-5 grade level!
    Then they like to boast that he KJV is the only inherent Word of God.
    I then ask them - then what was the inherent 'word of God for over a thousand years
    Then they say I am ignorant.

    Please tell me why I keep posting there?
     
  4. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2003
    Messages:
    38,982
    Likes Received:
    2,615
    Faith:
    Baptist
  5. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I thought that it was high school level?
     
  6. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2003
    Messages:
    38,982
    Likes Received:
    2,615
    Faith:
    Baptist
    IT is - anywhere from 11th grade to college Freshman.

    ITs just that some want to think that it is on a 5th grade level. Granted - some portions are -
    but overall - much closer to High School
     
  7. Reynolds

    Reynolds Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2014
    Messages:
    13,793
    Likes Received:
    2,468
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Apart from the article, all I can say is my Personal experience. I went to Christian school. In 4th grade, we were all reading the KJV aloud in class. All of us (except one special needs kid) read the Bible well. We understood it as good as could be expected from kids our age. As we read, our teacher would explain meanings of words to us.
    My son, who by any standard is exceptionally smart and definitely smarter than me or my wife, was reading and comprehending the KJV well when in third grade. He even looked at the study notes and figured out the hard words and phrases.
    He could tell me what he read. He couldnt unpack Romans or Understand the prophecy of Daniels dream, but he could tell me what he read.
     
  8. Reynolds

    Reynolds Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2014
    Messages:
    13,793
    Likes Received:
    2,468
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I try to steer clear of KJV only. One old preacher told me "Jesus preached out of the King James Bible." After that I told him "You win." He grinned ear to ear. He missed the sarcasm.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
  9. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2003
    Messages:
    38,982
    Likes Received:
    2,615
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Thats my point - at 4th Grade - you needed someone to explain parts of the Bible.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Useful Useful x 1
  10. Reynolds

    Reynolds Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2014
    Messages:
    13,793
    Likes Received:
    2,468
    Faith:
    Baptist
    At Masters degree same is still true.
     
  11. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I had someone tell me that they will stick to good ole Kjv, as a leather bound one that Moses had good enough for them!
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  12. alexander284

    alexander284 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2005
    Messages:
    1,497
    Likes Received:
    335
    Faith:
    Baptist
    In my opinion, due primarily to the use of Elizabethan English, the KJV is written at the college level (similar to Shakespeare).
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  13. Rippon2

    Rippon2 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,119
    Likes Received:
    177
    Faith:
    Baptist
    You need a the and a was.
     
  14. Conan

    Conan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2019
    Messages:
    1,866
    Likes Received:
    314
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Could be an "a" and a "wasn't" instead. More unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No.
     
  15. Rippon2

    Rippon2 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 13, 2020
    Messages:
    1,119
    Likes Received:
    177
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Your alternatives are certainly possible.
     
  16. MartyF

    MartyF Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2018
    Messages:
    1,381
    Likes Received:
    194
    Faith:
    Baptist
    The KJV is a translation written by a foreign culture in a foreign dialect. This culture was superstitious and had many superstitious beliefs such as cockatrices and unicorns. This culture actually believed that these mythical creatures existed. They did not means serpents and rhinos. They know what rhinos were and they called them rhinos - no unicorns. In fact, you find pictures at that time for both.

    At least the King James does not give Moses horns.

    The KJV was written at a "low grade level." It had to be. However, people still don't understand or believe that the culture and dialect which wrote the King James was foreign.
     
  17. alexander284

    alexander284 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2005
    Messages:
    1,497
    Likes Received:
    335
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I don't believe the King James Version of the Bible was written at a "low grade level."

    I think that the United States has gone from college level reading comprehension to an eighth grade reading comprehension level.
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  18. Conan

    Conan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2019
    Messages:
    1,866
    Likes Received:
    314
    Faith:
    Baptist
    “I had perceived by experience, how that it was impossible to stablish the lay people in any truth, except the scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text.”

    —William Tyndale, Preface to the Pentateuch, 1530
    English Versions of the Bible
     
    • Like Like x 1
  19. MartyF

    MartyF Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2018
    Messages:
    1,381
    Likes Received:
    194
    Faith:
    Baptist
    When?!

    When did the average American have a “college-level” reading comprehension?

    Do you have anything to base this on rather than nostalgia?

    Reading levels have not gotten worse in the U.S. They were always bad. There are millions of tests to prove this.

    If King James were alive, he’d disagree with you. Why do you think the KJV says “God save the King”? King James wanted to unite the kingdom. He wanted a Bible the common people would understand. He wanted to compete with and supplant the Geneva Bible.

    Do you really think that the average person attending the Globe Theater was college educated? No, they weren’t.
     
  20. MartyF

    MartyF Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2018
    Messages:
    1,381
    Likes Received:
    194
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Exactly! They wrote clearly to the people of that time and place.
     
    • Like Like x 1
Loading...