The four commandments

The King James's Bible was written by a committee.  Yes, you heard right.  The book that gave us phrases such as 'the salt of the earth' was written by committee.  In fact, it's plural.  Committees.  Not one, but six were responsible for writing it.

How can this be?  In our business we are taught that anything created or designed by a committee is a bad thing.  The result of a committee will be a many-headed beast, rather than a pure single-minded idea.  How many times do we exclaim 'There are no statues to committees!'

The BBC Four documentary 'When God Spoke English: The Making of the King James Bible' provided me with the answer.

Lesson 1:  The importance of the single-minded idea

King James wanted a translation that would stamp his authority as king over a country that was going through turbulent times.  He knew exactly what he wanted the version to convey - his majesty.  If he had written a brief, that would have been the proposition - 'majesty'.

Lesson 2:  The power of presentation

Each of the 47 translators (he needed this many as let's face it, the Bible is rather big) was briefed to translate from the original Greek into English.  The committees then judged the translations against the King's brief of 'majesty'.  Every single word was judged.  And because the Authorised Version (as it came to be known) would be read aloud in church, the committees insisted that the translators didn't just send in their work for approval, but instead they had to read it aloud.  They had to present their argument for why they had translated each word the way they had, face to face.  (One suspects the 21st century habit of copy sent by email wouldn't have been tolerated.)

Lesson 3:  Check for typos

The first editions suffered from printing errors.  The word 'not' was missing from the seventh commandment ('Thou shalt commit adultery').  Oooops.

Lesson 4:  Committees can be a good idea

Everyone involved with the King James Bible knew what was expected of them, and they had a shared vision.  The King had a clear brief.  The translators knew what they were trying to achieve.  And the committees knew against which criteria they were judging the translations.

Any parallels with our industry?

Just a thought.