Christianity’s Holy Book Bible has many versions circulated these days. The original version was written in Hebrew as well as in Greek. These original manuscripts were translated into different languages over time. Primarily to make it easy for people to read.
The Original Bible had the Old and the New Testament. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek. The Old Testament had 46 books and the New Testament had 27 books. While translating it in different languages, a few versions missed out on the original manuscripts as they were not available too.
Catholic Bible vs King James Bible
The main difference between the Catholic Bible and King James Bible is, Catholic Bible imbibes the original version of the Holy book that contains 46 books of Old Testament and 27 Books of the New Testament. Whereas, the King James Bible contains translation of old and new testaments, however it is devoid of the 7 Apocrypha’s making it 39 Old Testament books.
The Catholic Bible as we say, it is the actual Christian Bible. Further, it contains both the old and new Testaments. Additionally, it has Vulgate too. The King James Version of the Bible is a translated English Version of the Bible. It was ordered by the King James I and the task was carried out in the 17th Century.
Comparison Table Between Catholic Bible and King James Bible (in Tabular Form)
| Parameter of Comparison | Catholic Bible | King James Bible |
|---|---|---|
| Term/ Meaning | Catholic Bible is the general term for a Christian Bible. | King James Bible is one of the versions of the Bible available in Christianity. |
| Number of Books | Catholic Bible has 46 books of Old and 27 books of the New Testament. | King James Bible has 39 books of Old and 27 books of the New Testament. |
| Apocrypha | Catholic Bible has Apocrypha in it. | King James Bible does not have Apocrypha Contained in it. |
| Translation Period | Catholic Bible is the very first translation of the canon scriptures to Latin first. | King James Bible is the English translation of the canon scriptures. |
| Completeness | Catholic Bible is considered to be complete as it contains all the scriptures that were in Hebrew and Greek. | King James Bible is made in English, however, does not have the deuterocanonical books and also misses out on Apocrypha. |
What is Catholic Bible?
Catholic Bible is the Holy book of the Christians that contains 73 books of the Canon Scripture. The Canon Scriptures are the Christianity recognized Holy scriptures as authoritative. The Catholic Bible was made by referring the Canon Scriptures. The scriptures were in Hebrew and Greek.
At this juncture, it is better to understand a Jargon used in Christianity
Deuterocanonical Books: These are scriptures written in Greek which is translated from the original Hebrew Structure. They belong to the Old Testament. These are recognized and approved only by Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian Church.
The Catholic Bible not only has the 73 books but also includes the Deuterocanonical books. These were extant of the Old Testament in ancient times.
Catholic Bible can also be considered as the version built based on Catholic Canon Law. These laws were made the authorities of the Catholic Church then. The rules and regulations direct Christians to follow the activities of the Church. The Latin version of the Catholic Bible is considered to be the direct translation of the canon scriptures.
It is called the Vulgate and was observed to be translated in 4th Century AD. Any translation of the Catholic Bible after that happened from Vulgate. However, it is still considered that the Catholic Bible was written by the author himself and the Church believes it strongly.
What is King James Bible?
The King James Bible is the translation of the Christian Bible to the English Language. It is the authorized version of the Holy Book which was published in the year 1611 AD.
The task of translation began in the year 1604 under the order of King James I. This version of the Bible misses out on the 7 books on Apocrypha which must be present between the Old and the New Testament. King James Version of the Bible is the third English translation of the Christian Bible. The earlier versions were the Great Bible and the Bishops’ Bible.
These two versions had certain problems which were raised by the Puritans.
Puritans: They were the people belonged to the 16th century. They were Protestants and they wanted to clear all the problems with Catholic influence from Church of England.
With this effect, King James I called for a Hampton Court Conference in the year 1604. The decision of making another English version of the Christian Bible was made.
The translation was done by a total of 47 people. They were divided into 6 panels for the task to be carried out effectively.
Main Differences Between Catholic Bible and King James Bible
- The main difference between the Catholic Bible and King James Bible is, Catholic Bible is the general term that the bible holds that the Christians use it is the name given to the Holy book by many people. While King James Bible is one of the many versions available in the world.
- Catholic Bible contains all the Old Testament and New Testament Canon scriptures. It also contains the 7 books of Apocrypha. The King James Bible does not contain all the books that were originally present and used to make the Catholic Bible.
- Catholic Bible contains the Apocrypha whereas the King James Bible is devoid of it.
- Catholic Bible is the very first translation of the original canon scriptures to Latin while King James Bible is the English translation of the scriptures.
- Catholic Bible is considered complete while King James Bible misses out on a lot of aspects. Also, King James version has high sounding English which was later required to change.
Conclusion
The translational accuracy of the Bible is under question. Though we call King James Bible is the translation of the original version, the Catholic Bible too must be translated from Hebrew and Greek. Though Vulgate was translated in the 4th Century, it was also translated version. The accuracy of the textual reference is missing.
The literal translation of the languages present early was paraphrased to then lifetime. It all happened in a different period, and every period had different language connotations too. At the same time, King James Version of the Bible had a majestic style of English. But let us understand, such English language usage is never found these days. But one thing remains constant, the information that is passed through the Bible is true and it is good to follow it.
References
- https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/95b2/d0b072c4b503ef7d8da540cd462f10985e29.pdf
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/44209579
Last update on 2022-04-03 / Amazon Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API