While the King James Version of the Bible shaped the English language, modern English is not the English of the 1600s. Pick up a King James Bible, and it's easy to spot words we don't use anymore—from beeves and bolled to harts and hosen. But modern readers face the greater danger of "false friends"—words we think we know but don't.

The KJV is filled with words that, because of language changes over four centuries, we don't realize we're misunderstanding. In this enlightening and entertaining book, Mark Ward considers thirty-eight common words from the KJV that you don't know you don't know; words like study, sincere, offend, peculiar, and mansion. Far from critiquing the King James Bible, Ward's intention is to make us better readers of it. He helps you spot these false friends, explains how words change, and gives you the tools to discover and define hidden KJV archaisms on your own.

Whether you grew up on the King James Version or use it as your primary Bible today, Ward's book can help you read and study the KJV with confidence.