The KJV is Too Difficult to Read: A Story

My wife and I homeschool our children and have been doing so for 14 years. From time to time we would join a homeschool co-op to supplement our home education. One year I was asked to co-teach a 9th grade science class.

As usual I would have the textbook and my Bible on the table throughout the time of lecture and discussion. About half way through the semester one of the students noticed that I read from the KJV and reflexively commented, “Oh, the KJV. That Bible is difficult to read.”

With the fraction of a second I had, I wanted to dispel the idea that the KJV was difficult to read while making the whole exchange fun and memorable.

Without breaking eye-contact with the student I reached over to my KJV and put my thumb in a random place among the pages and then opened my Bible to that place. Then, while still maintaining eye-contact with the student, I told the student to tell me when to stop. At which point I began to run my finger down the page until the student said, stop.

I stopped and promptly read the verse out loud to the class and then asked the student if he knew what that verse meant, which of course he did. The whole class erupted in judgmental “oooooo’s”.

The KJV was not too hard to read. So much so that a randomly chosen verse was understood by a 9th grade non-KJV reading student in the 21st century.

Try it sometime. I promise. It’ll be fun.

One thought on “The KJV is Too Difficult to Read: A Story

  1. Most Bible readers didn’t realize the KJV was hard to read until Mark Ward told us so. Of course, he works for a company that makes money if we buy the modern versions, not the KJV. This is what the KJV calls “filthy lucre”. I understand this expression perfectly.

    Liked by 3 people

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