The King James Bible or Authorized Version (1611) comprises the Old Testament, the Apocrypha and the New Testament, from God's creation of the heaven and earth and the fall of man in Genesis, through the life Jesus Christ, to St John the Divine's foretelling of the end of the world and God's final judgment in Revelation. Among the most influential texts of all time and the cornerstone of the Christian faith, the King James Bible is the work of the great scholars and theologians of the early seventeenth century and reflects their desire for greater stability in the Christian religion. They revised and retranslated existing versions, including that of William Tyndale, to create a standardized Bible that would be accessible to all speakers and readers of English. Definitive and highly readable, this superb edition brings new vigour to one of the finest pieces of English prose.  For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. David Norton was born in Cambridge, and is currently an associate Professor of English at New Zealand's Victoria University of Wellington. He is the author of A History of the Bible as Literature (CUP, 1993).