CSRNation

Welcome to CSR Nation

A misplaced comma and a masterpiece

The King James Version of the Bible has had an immense effect on the English language. C.S. Lewis called it “a treasure-house of English prose.” It dispersed many new words and phrases into our vocabulary like “Land of Nod” and “the powers that be.”

This translation has not only influenced our language but also our literature and art. British author and Poet Laureate Andrew Motion said, “The King James Bible is a cornerstone of our culture and our language. Whatever our faith, whatever we believe, we have to recognize that the rhetorical power of this book, and in particular its power to fuse history with poetry, connects at the most fundamental level with our own history and poetry.”

Such is the power of this literary and religious work of art that even its errors inspire greatness. King James Bible renders Isaiah 9:6 thus, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” However, most recent translations omit the comma between Wonderful and Counselor. Instead of five separate titles, modern translators render four parallel titles: Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. (Seventeenth century scholars also used haphazard capitalization, but that’s irrelevant to this post.)

Every book has mistakes that slip past even the most fastidious editors, but this particular mistake also made it into one of the most well-known pieces of Christmas music, Handel’s Messiah. The result was to make the masterpiece even more beautiful. While I appreciate the scholarship that has led to increasingly more accurate translations, it’s hard to imagine the Christmas composition without that majestic “Wonderful! Counselor!”

As a proofreader I stand firmly against letting errors slide, but in this case an exception is warranted. Merry Christmas!