Background

When the editor was a teenager and modern translations were just becoming popular, he often thought, "Why don't they just update the KJV, so that those who have memorized from it will not 'lose' their long hours of work." In the nearly fifty years since this thought surfaced, no one has ever attempted this specific task.

The King James 2000 is not a new version. It is a King James Version brought forward 400 years. Several categories of words are brought up to 21st century language. Pronouns such as thy, thine, thou, ye, etc. are put into current language usage form. Verbal endings such as -eth, -est, -st, etc. are given equivalent forms of today's language. Words so archaic as to be unknown, such as wist, wot, froward, etc. are rendered as their current synonyms. Some words considered entirely proper in 1611, but which may be considered "coarse" today, are changed to equivalent intentions (such as bowels to heart). The common Biblical beast of burden is rendered donkey.

The intent of King James 2000 is to keep every KJV word the same, unless a misunderstanding or a gross word order "error" (in today's usage) must be averted. All punctuation is left the same, including omission of quotation marks, in order to keep the rhythm and pattern of KJV memorization intact. Even the interpolative KJV words (normally in italics) are kept the same if possible. No "corrections" or "textual considerations" are taken into account, since the King James 2000 intent is to preserve the KJV "as is," except for truly necessary changes. Pronouns addressing Deity are not set apart by capitalization, but are kept just as found in the KJV, with lower case letters (neither is distinction made in the original languages).

The King James 2000 will provide a version which has been, to some extent, verbally composed already. Many pastors and other Bible readers have already exchanged "show" for "shew," "you" for "ye," and "know" for "wot" in their private and public readings. Some of these "corrections" have already appeared in the various KJV printings. The King James 2000 will make these common exchanges "official."

A large percentage of English speaking people still prefer the KJV, whether because of their trust in its truthfulness or their enjoyment of its beauty of language. Many others, who use one of the many modern versions, still quote from that which was long ago "hid in their heart," the KJV. To these saints of God the King James 2000 is presented, that they may hold to the old with confidence, yet move into the future without fear. The intent of the King James 2000 is to "look, sound and feel" like the KJV.

As with editors of many versions of the past, the desire of this editor is that the King James 2000, as well as "everything we do," may honor and glorify the Sovereign God of eternity.

Robert A. Couric, Doctor of Theology, Professor of Bible at Mid-Continent College.

Comparison of King James Versions

Printing of the KJ2000 Bible shall be limited to 500 verses without express written permission of the copyright owner, Robert A. Couric, providing the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible nor do the verses quoted account for 25 percent or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted. The initials KJ2000 must appear at the end of each quotation. The KJ2000 can not be used in any application for profit.

This KJV2000 Bible may be freely copied for noncommercial use only.

Additional Information

Additional information on the KJ2000 Bible can be found at the KJ2000 Website.

The King James 2000 Bible is now available in hard and soft covers, and a soft cover New Testament. Call The Bible League (1-800-334-7017) or visit BibleLeagueUsa.com to order.

This HTML version of the KJ2000 is available for free download from www.SpiritAndTruth.org/download/tools/index.htm.

To disable the grey background in favor of a plain white background, remove or rename the bgbeggining.jpg file.

• A Bible Address
  To go directly to a Bible address, just type the address: Jn 3:16.

• Single Word
  To search for verses containing the word faith, type faith.

• Combination of Words (logical AND)
  To search for verses containing several words, type each word separated by spaces. To find verses containing both sister and brother, type sister brother. There is no support at present for alternate words (logical OR).

• Wildcards
  To search for occurrences of women or woman, use a question-mark for the variable character: wom?n. To search for variable endings, such as all words which begin with demon, use an asterisk to indicate the variable ending: demon*. This will find demon, demons, demoniac, etc.

• A Phrase
  To search for verses containing an exact phrase, place the phrase within quotes, for example: "For God so loved". (Currently, only a single phrase is allowed and it cannot be combined as a logical AND with other words.)

Click on this button to look up a verse.

Clicking on this button takes you to the previous chapter.

Clicking on this button takes you to the next chapter.

Linking to the KJ2000 Bible

To link from another document or web page to this Bible, insert a URL in the document or web page pointing to this page. This will bring you to the navigation control from which you can reach any verse in any book of the Bible.

To begin study automatically at a designated verse, append the Bible address as an anchor to the URL. For example, to open the study at John 3:16, the URL, when embedded in a document would appear as:

<a href="index.htm#John 3:16">John 3:16</a>

index.htm#John 3:16

(The browser entry would include any prefix to the file index.htm. For example, to look up the address at the SpiritAndTruth.org website, use:

http://www.SpiritAndTruth.org/lookup/index.htm#John 3:16

Most typical Bible book abbreviations will work, as will full book names. The separator between the chapter and verse may be any non-alphanumeric character and the verse itself is optional.

Here are a few additional examples:

<a href="index.htm#Zec 12 10">Zec 12:10</a>

<a href="index.htm#Revelation 9">Revelation 9</a>

<a href="index.htm#Ge 3.15">Ge 3.15</a>

Search for the word fish (only available when running from a webserver which supports PHP) :
<a href="index.htm#fish">fish</a>

A slightly different presentation is available by specifying index-.htm in place of index.htm in which case the bible text area is expanded to fill the entire window and the navigation controls in the upper portion of the window are not shown. The user must then use the button to select another bible address.