In their influence on the English language, only the works of Shakespeare can compare with the King James Bible, which is 400 years old this year. Phrases such as “by the skin of one’s teeth”, “arise and shine” and “at their wits’ end” all originated with the King James translators. Others, such as “salt of the earth”, “powers that be” and “he that is not with me is against me” have also come to us through the King James Bible (although they first appeared in the earlier translations, which the King James translators consulted assiduously as part of their task). …