Ah, Kindle Direct Press. It doesn’t discern quality—hence the billions of poorly crafted books filling cyberspace—but its bots do discern plagiarized material.
I chose King James Bible verses for my novels because the language was so beautiful. And it was too old to be copyrighted, right?
Wrong.
As I was about to publish, I discovered the crown of Britain owns the KJB copyrights FOREVER.
Cambridge University Press, the administers of the Crown’s patent, wrote in 2023, “The reproduction by any means of the text of the King James Version is permitted to a maximum of five hundred (500) verses for liturgical and non-commercial educational use, provided that the verses quoted neither amount to a complete book of the Bible nor represent 25 percent subject to . . .” blah blah blah.
What could I use instead?
The translation by Julia Evelina Smith is free of copyrights. Born 1792, Smith was the first woman to translate the entire bible, incurring wrath because her results were literal and choppy, and because she was a . . . woman.
The World English Bible is in the public domain, but its words lack music. To my ear, anyway.
JM Lawrence to the rescue. A Master of Divinity student, Lawrence quickly translated dozens of Hebrew and Greek scriptures and, God bless her, added some olde world twists for me.
And the KDP bots said . . . that was just fine.
Nya nya, Crown of Britain.
MORE ABOUT THE KING JAMES VERSION
When I was a teen seeking scraps of meaning for my life, I bought an old version of the King James bible from an antique shop. I had difficulty reading it, however, and assumed it was written in Old English.
Twenty years later, I learned in a linguistics course that that the original KJB, written in 1611, is considered Modern English. I probably read the 1769 version.
Here’s a sample of the 1769 version from the book of John, chapter 11:
Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
The same verses from the 1611 edition:
Martha sayeth vnto him, I know that he shall rise againe in the resurrection at the last day.
Iesus said vnto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: hee that beleeueth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he liue.
And whosoeuer liueth, and beleeueth in mee, shall neuer die. Beleeuest thou this?
She saith vnto him, Yea Lord, I beleeue that thou art the Christ the Sonne of God, which should come into the world.