Abstract:
Many scholars have the perception that the King James Version (KJV) is a literal
translation. However, it is not so easy to define the concept of "literal translation". The
simplest definition may be to regard it as word-for-word translation. However, when
one compares the KJV carefully with the original Hebrew Bible, there are numerous
instances where lexical items are changed to adapt the idiom to that of the target
language. In this article, a measuring instrument will be proposed and used to
analyse some passages, with Ezek 15 as principal example. The same instrument
may be used to evaluate other translations. Comparing the results may give a more
precise indication of just how literal the KJV is.
