The King James Version of the Bible officially turned 400 years old on Monday.
The official birthday culminates months of worldwide celebration, with public figures as diverse as Prince Charles to atheist Christopher Hitchens agreeing to participate.
Hitchens wrote in the Vanity Fair that: "Though I am sometimes reluctant to admit it, there really is something 'timeless' in the Tyndale/King James synthesis.
"For generations, it provided a common stock of references and allusions, rivaled only by Shakespeare in this respect.
"It resounded in the minds and memories of literate people, as well as of those who acquired it only by listening."
The KJV was originally called the Authorised Version but came to be named after the king who commissioned it. King James 1 was struggling to lead his country through a time of severe religious division between Anglicans and Puritans. At the centre of their disagreements were various Bible translations that neither side could agree on.
The King managed to forge an uneasy alliance between Anglican and Puritan scholars to begin work on a new translation together, and it was his hope that this partnership would create further unity. It took a team of 47 scholars seven years to complete the project, and although the date is not definite, it is believed the KJV was first published around May 2, 1611.
One particular act of commemoration arranged for May 2 was by YouVersion, a Bible app group from Lifechurch.tv, who organised a mob reading of the translation where people all over the world read from the Bible for 400 seconds in unison.
“To my understanding it’s the first time that something like this has ever happened in history and so people don’t just want to celebrate the history but be part of the making of history,” stated Bobby Grunewald, innovation leader at Lifechurch.tv, which created YouVersion.
Other celebrations being organised includes The Bible Nation Society hosting an expo housing ancient Bibles, including a first edition 1611 authorised King James Bible, in front of the US Capitol building.
"To ignore it (KJV), is to ignore the very sun. It has enlightened our souls about Jesus Christ, and enriched our lives by paving a way of thinking," said Doug Levesque of the Bible Nation Society.
"In its pages are the answers to our current dilemmas including, the economy, the middle east, and even political gridlock."