Can the King James Bible be extensively quoted in commercial books?

Upvote:0

In the United States, the KJV is in the public domain, because it was published well before 1922, before which all works are currently in the public domain.

Some countries such as Germany, have restrictions on what can be in the public domain, so the "most countries" bit is added.

The thing about public domain works is that there is no restriction on their use. Even if you are selling the book commercially. Of course, if somebody else quoted the same KJV verses you use in your work, you couldn't sue him because he "stole" parts of your book.

http://www.copylaw.com/new_articles/PublicDomain.html

Upvote:4

The King James Version of the Bible is public domain in most parts of the world. Being in the public domain means that you can do whatever you want with it, including quoting it in a commercial book as you will like. In fact, you can even copy the whole text of the KJV, print it out, and sell your own copy (although since anybody can get it for free, that's not likely to be a very lucrative business model.

However, the United Kingdom and the commonwealth countries have more restrictions. By royal prerogative, only the Queen's Printer, Cambridge University Press, and Oxford University Press are permitted to reproduce the KJV. Cambridge University Press gives permission to use up to 500 verses (with some additional caveats) for educational and liturgical use. Beyond that, they approve usage on a case-by-case basis and generally don't charge a fee.

So if you are publishing in the United Kingdom or a commonwealth country, you will need to make sure that your work follows the appropriate guidelines for citing the King James Version of the Bible. If you quote extensively from it, you will likely need to contact them directly for permission.

If you are publishing to any other country in the world, you have nothing to worry about because being in the public domain means there are no restrictions to how you choose to use the KJV text, including using it in your own commercial work.

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