Is your Bible copyrighted?

I cannot see the link between your statement (about people thinking that the United States is the focal point of God's attention) and your question. (Sorry!) The AV is just what we call the KJV; it is not a different translation. It used to be that British Christians thought of the name "KJV" as American, but nowadays, like the American meaning for "billion", "KJV" is becoming more and more used here as the name for the translation first published in 1611.

Anyway, to answer your question, no, the AV/KJV is not regarded as an evil translation in the UK. At least, I have never come across anyone who thinks of it like that.

 

Sorry for being so "slow", Dale.

 

Maybe that C4K Moderator might edit C4K Poster's facts, here, as well.

The United States is not the only country that has a copyright free Bible, even the King James Version. Virtually all countries have access to "copyright free Bibles", including the KJV, DARBY, YLT, ASV, Geneva Bible, Webster Bible, Fenton, Douai/Rheims, Luther Bibel 1545, the Vulgate, Louis Segond, Chinese Union Versions, the Hebrew Westminster Leningrad Codex, multiple Greek Textus Receptus and W/H editions, Russian Synodal Version, Reina-Valera Antiqua, etc., et al., most of which named versions are accessed on Bible Gateway. (It is not a requirement for a "copyright free Bible" to have been translated into the common, everyday language of someone, for them to have access to it.)

Further, the Authorized/King James Version is technically "copyright free", as well, even though I often cite that it has the equivalent of Copyright status in the United Kingdom. For it is, in fact, outside of "Statute" copyright status, as Dale-c cited in the OP, but is an "in perpetuity" legal right. The legal rights to publish any and all Bibles in the UK are held by the Crown, via the 'state' Anglican church, and have been so decreed, from some 70+ years before the KJV even appeared, dating back to Henry VIII and the Great Bible of 1538, I believe.

As an aside, C4K might be able to answer this. I realize one cannot purchase a KJV in England that is not of this flavor, but I would assume one could bring their own personal copy of the Bible (of any translation) into the UK, whether or not it is or was copyrighted.

Am I correct in this? Or was your personal Bible confiscated when you entered the UK?

Ed

 

I don't live in the UK, but I visit quite often and have purchased KJV (AV) Bibles there. The Trinitarian Bible Society only prints KJV(AV) Bibles in English. I don't think their Bibles have a copyright in them, but I am not in my office at the moment and too lazy to go check. I will try to remember to check it later.

There is a small, but vocal, group of KJVO(AVO) churches in the UK.

 

My Bad. My brain obviously wasn't fully in gear at the time I responded for I really do know that the Republic of Ireland (Eire) is not a part of the United Kingdom. Just because my motor is running does not necessarily mean my brain is engaged!

(FTR, it's not necessary for anyone out there to respond to my assertion that my brain wasn't fully engaged but a is permitted.)

Thanks for the offer to check on the copyright status of the Trinitarian Society BIbles, but it is not particularly necessary.

The point is, as I have mentioned elsewhere, that there are many nuances to and widely varying copyright laws, worldwide. And as I have before mentioned, as well, the 'Pew Bible' our church uses is a copyrighted KJV, that is extremely 'plain-text', with no marginal references, no concordance or index, nor side or foot notes of any sort, the only things, in addition to text, being a table of contents, the book titles, chapter, verse, and page numbers and three to five maps (Don't remember the exact number) at the end, yet it is still copyrighted by Zondervan.

But I was wondering if someone who moved into the UK from outside that country was allowed to bring in and use (and even distribute) their own Bibles, freely? Maybe someone who moved there from another nation can tell us this answer.

FTR, thanks for the often times thankless job you and the other Moderators and Administrators do to keep things on an even keel. :thumbs:

Ed

 

My son resides in the UK. He carried Bibles (KJV) in and has no restrictions if he wants to import and distribute them.

BTW, my TBS AV Bibles are printed under a "Royal Letters Patent" but apparently are printed without copyright restriction. Cambridge prints their Bibles and I am not sure about restictions.

 

All of my Bibles except for my KJV is copyrighted.

 

Being that we are talking about the only living, inspired, God-breathed Holy Book, inspired by The Only infinite living Almighty Holy God...

I think He could handle feeble attempts by itty bitty man at tampering... copyright or no. God is God and man is not.

And there is no copyright on His Word that I have hidden in my heart.

 

NET Bible

I recently started using the NET Bible.

http://www.bible.org/category.php?scid=5&category_id=71

 

I guess I didn't make myself clear. God doesn't need man to keep His word pure. What I meant was that a copyright keeps a particular Bible or version exactly the way it was published. If I buy a NKJV or NASB, I can rest assured that it is just that. All NKJV's are the same. The text is protected by copyright and it will be the same in every copy.

 

I think one of the primary reasons the US didn't and doesn't recognize the crown copyright was because of that little incident known as the American Revolution. There's also the fact that in the US, we recognize no copyright older than 1923, regardless of where in the world it was copyrighted.

But as others have pointed out, having an almost nationalistic view on things of our faith is very... I dunno... ignorant of us. Certainly, the US is not the only nation that matters to God. Same is true of the early modern English speaking people.

And I'll agree with others that mentioned that God doesn't need us or our silly laws to carry out his will. But for reasons only know to God, he chooses to use lowly mankind and our silliness sometimes. We can't start second guessing or defining how and where God works.

But from my own finite observation as a lowly man, I find that copyrights can in fact help ensure the integrity of any piece of work, including a translation of the Bible. So I certainly don't view it as a negative thing.

 

Same as the 2 timothy 2:15 thingie, the copyrights thingie is just another lame KJVO attempt to make an excuse to justify their doctrine. To me the copyright controversy was discredited long ago.

If we seek the origin of the copyrights argument, we will find that it comes from some KJVO work and not from any neutral or reliable source.

In John's Gospel, he says he "bears record". Under Roman law, that was equivalent to swearing out an affidavit under U. S. law, only the Roman penalties for bearing false record were more severe, as were the penalties for anyone altering an official record. Thus, we see that John "copyrighted" his own writings.

There's hardly a KJV edition printed in the USA that doesn't have some part of it copyrighted, be it a concordance, study helps, maps, or illustrations. Is there any harm in this? Of course not!

And I agree with those above who wrote that a copyright assures them they're getting a genuine article, printed just as the publisher intended.

 

Hear , hear ! Amen to what the man is saying !