Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) for hosting this special hour to talk about the Bible. Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 419th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible. In 1604, King James I commissioned 54 scholars from Oxford and Cambridge Universities to produce one uniform translation of the Bible that all denominations could accept. It is unlikely that there has ever been another group of translators whose collective expertise in Biblical languages was equal to this group. Benson Bobrick, who wrote a book called ``Wide as the Waters,'' said, because of the people's desire to read the Bible, the English translation, known as the Authorized Version in Great Britain, helped Great Britain become the most literate nation in the world. In terms of the language of the King James Version, about 90 percent are Anglo- Saxon words with a vocabulary of only about 8,000 words for the entire translation. It was the first major work of English prose based primarily on Anglo-Saxon words instead of Latin. The King James translation established the prose style for English and American literature and became the foundation of modern English language giving us words and phrases that are common parts of our language today. In his ``History of England,'' Thomas Macaulay said that `` . . .…”