The Cost of the KJV
The Cost of the KJV
(by Len Williams - President, GM, and Founder of The KJV Store)
It’s not a wild accusation to say that our world is obsessed with money. Especially as Americans, we are consumed with consumerism. Everywhere we go, we are inundated with Ads… TV, Radio, Magazines, Websites and Social Media, even Billboards… ads are everywhere. Black Friday this, Cyber Monday that, Christmas shopping galore.
Let’s face it, money isn’t going anywhere. We know that the love of money is the root of all evil (I Timothy 6:10), but money itself is not inherently evil. Perhaps the best compromise is to call it a necessary evil. What we buy and where we buy it from says a lot about us. In the democracy of consumerism, we vote with our dollars.
Each of us reading this article probably have a lot in common. As pastors or members of “KJV Churches”, we all hopefully believe that the King James Version Bible is God’s Holy Word in English. We are all likely reading on a computer, tablet, or smart phone. We wear suits and dress shoes in our various churches on Sundays. We drive in cars to go to church and work. We live in homes filled with furniture, appliances, and “things”. Now take a moment to think about how much money we spend on these things. What do they cost, and more importantly what is their worth to us?
I believe that the King James Version Bible has both great cost and great worth. It’s great cost can be traced all the way from the Ten Commandments being delivered to Moses, to the Dead Sea Scrolls, to John Wycliffe’s first hand written English bible in 1384 A.D., to Gutenberg’s printing press in 1455 A.D., to the Martin Luther, William Tyndale, Miles Coverdale, and Geneva bibles, all predecessors of the KJV. Countless Godly men spent countless hours, many even giving their very lives in martyrdom as recorded by John Foxe in 1550 A.D., so that we could eventually have our beloved KJV Bible, in 1611 A.D. and to this present day. The cost of the KJV was great, but the worth of the KJV is greater. It’s great worth can be measured in souls saved and lives changed for having read it. But can we really assign a worth or value to having the literal Words of God at our fingertips, in our own language, to read and study as often as we are able? Or can we truly measure the impact of a good KJV Bible in our lives?
As President and Founder of The KJV Store (www.TheKJVStore.com), and as someone who has had the privilege of distributing millions of KJV Bibles and books for over 20 years, I literally find myself in the sometimes-awkward position of having to assign a cost (price) to various KJV Bibles and products. Yes, the cost of the KJV Bible is great, and the worth is greater, nay, priceless, but KJV Bibles themselves are not “Free”. The KJV Bible not only represents the history and sacrifice of the men that translated it and our Lord that inspired it, but it also represents the ink on it’s pages, the paper it’s printed on, the thread of it’s smyth-sewn binding, the animal’s hide that makes up it’s leather cover, and the labor of the skilled human hands that crafted it’s quality. Ink, paper, thread, leather, and labor, all of these things cost time and money and a value can be applied to them. All of these oft-overlooked factors go into the cost and therefore the price of any given KJV Bible.
At The KJV Store, we offer KJV Bibles in various price ranges (starting as little as $0.75 Cents for KJV Gospel of John and Romans, $2.95 for KJV Paperback Bibles, and under $6.00 each for KJV Gift & Award Bibles by the Case), and it is the words of the KJV that matter above all else. But we genuinely believe the best value for the money are our more premium leather KJV Bibles such as our exclusive KJV Store Published Bibles, exclusively bound in the U.S.A. and Europe in Edge-Lined Lambskin or Goatskin Leather starting at $120.00+, or our Allan Longprimer Editions in Meriva Calfskin for $250.00+, Cambridge KJV Concord Wide-Margin Reference Editions in Goatskin Leather with a retail price of $300.00+, and even the 1611 King James Bible – Deluxe Facsimile Edition for $995.00+, or 1611 Regular Facsimile Edition for $139.95.
Sometimes people ask me on the phone or via email, “Why are some of these bibles so “expensive?”, or “how can you ask $100-$1,000 for a King James Bible?” And to that I respond, how much did you spend on your iPhone or your computer? How much do you spend on a pair of good leather dress shoes or a high-end leather purse or wallet? And how long do those items typically last? A $150+ pair of name brand running shoes will wear out every couple of years, and many people upgrade their $1,000+ iPhone or $2,000+ Macbook computers every 3-5 years. As such, why would we then not be willing to spend $100-$300+ on a premium leather King James Version Bible (containing 66 Books, 1,189 Chapters, 31,102 verses, and 788,258 words) that will likely last us the rest of our life and that can be passed down for generations to come? Why would we not want to support a company that stands firmly on the KJV, and who’s employees are tithing and missions giving members of KJV Churches? Is a $150 premium leather KJV Bible really worth more than a $1.50 paperback KJV New Testament? Think about what they are made of and the amount of labor or skill it took to make them, as well as who made them or where they were printed. Or better yet, buy them both, compare them side by side in-person, then get back to me with your findings. My guestimation is that the $1.50 item is worth $1.50 and the $150.00 is worth $150.00, because as we say in Texas, from boots to bibles, you ALWAYS get what you pay for.
In closing, remember that what we buy and where we buy it from says a lot about us, and we cast our votes as Christian consumers with the real dollars that we spend. What then is the true cost and value of the King James Version Bible (as the Word of God), and what is the cost and value of physical KJV Bibles in general? Well, that’s up for you to decide with both your heart and your wallet.
With every blessing,
Len Williams
John 1:1
Len Williams
President and GM
The KJV Store
817-551-1500
info@thekjvstore.com
www.thekjvstore.com 
(Originally published as a guest post on KJV Churches:
https://www.kjvchurches.com/the-cost-of-the-kjv-guest-post/)