1842 BERNARD BAPTIST BIBLE. The Baptist Translation the Led to the Formation of the American Bible Union.

David Bernard’s 1842 revision of the King James Version stands as a major landmark in nineteenth-century American biblical scholarship and denominational history. Overseen by Bernard, a Baptist pastor, prominent abolitionist, and anti-Masonic leader, and edited alongside scholar A. C. Kendrick, this publication was designed to produce an English Bible that corrected perceived inaccuracies in the King James translation while aligning more directly with Greek and Hebrew lexicography.

The primary significance of Bernard’s translation lies in its explicit expression of Baptist theology regarding ordinances and divine names. Most notably, the text consistently translated the Greek verb baptizo and its derivatives as "immerse" rather than transliterating it as "baptize," reflecting the Baptist conviction that biblical baptism strictly required full immersion rather than sprinkling or pouring. In the Old Testament, the edition consistently rendered the Hebrew Tetragrammaton as "Jehovah" instead of the traditional King James rendering of "LORD".

Beyond its textual choices, this first edition served as a crucial catalyst for the broader movement toward denominational Bible revision in the United States. Dissatisfaction among Baptists over the refusal of traditional Bible societies to finance translations that explicitly rendered baptizo as "immerse" led directly to independent publishing endeavors like Bernard’s. His 1842 Bible helped galvanize support for the eventual founding of the American Bible Union in 1850, making it a foundational document in the history of American vernacular Bible translation and nineteenth-century sectarian debates over scriptural authority.

No examples traced in the auction record or in the trade at the time of cataloging. 

[Baptist Bible Translation] The Holy Bible; Being the English Version of the Old and New Testaments, Made by Order of King James I., Carefully Revised and Amended, the Meaning of the Sacred Originals being Given, in Accordance with the Best Translations and the Most Approved Hebrew and Greek Lexicographers: by Several Biblical Scholars. Philadelphia. Published for David Bernard, by J. B. Lippincott, Corner of Fourth and Race Streets. Stereotyped by L. Johnson. 1842. First Edition.

Large 4to in full original calf, some rubbing as shown, stains at corners and inner margins decreasing through until Exodus, and lesser so from the rear of the volume forward. Moderately foxed as shown. Otherwise textually very good. Genealogical pages between the Old and New Testament have the top 1/3 of one page excised. Else, complete and very nicely preserved. The true first edition exceptionally rare.