Four hundred years after it debuted as the first widely distributed Bible for the English-speaking world, the King James Version of the Bible still holds a place of distinction among Americans, according to a new survey by LifeWay Research.
The poll, conducted to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Version (KJV), found that more than half of all American adults (62 percent) own a KJV Bible.
Among those who read the Bible regularly the percentage of KJV owners is even higher. A full 82 percent of Americans who read the Bible at least once a month own a KJV. Sixty-seven percent of American adults who own a Bible have a KJV.
Published in 1611 under the direction of England's King James I, the KJV has wielded significant influence over both religion and language among English speakers, generating now-common phrases such as "fight the good fight," "reap the whirlwind" and "feet of clay."
"Christians believe that God's Word is truth and that truth is conveyed through language -- thus translations have always been integral to the spread of Christianity," said Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay Research. "It is hard to overstate the influence of the KJV not just on language and idioms, but because it brought the Word of God to English-speaking peoples in the first widely available format."
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