To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

Ecclesiastes 3


"Translation it is that openeth the window, to let in the light, that breaketh the shell, that we may eat the kernel"- From the King James Bible Translators to the Reader

2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible (also known as the Authorised Version.) For the first time a large number of people of the United Kingdom could read scripture in a language that everyone could understand. IThe KJV - as it is often known - was not the first attempt, though, at a translation into English - but in a sense it was its Royal Warrant that made sure that it became universally accessible.

Nor should we overlook the fact that King James instructed the translators that this version should reflect the needs and the particular situation of the Church of England. But ten years earlier, in May 1601, the King (at that time the Scottish King) had attended the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at St Columba's Church in Burntisland, at which proposals were put forward for a new translation of the Bible into English.

Two years later, he acceded to the throne of England as King James I of England. He was a very ambiguous character - a mixture of saint and sinner (as we all are to some extent). But this particular act of his has influenced countless millions of people over four centuries.