This is based on the English of the King James or Authorized Version of Bible (KJV/AV) as printed since 1769, when its spelling and punctuation were last successfully updated (updates since then have failed to catch on). The translation first came out in 1611.
Pronouns: go like this:
- 1st person singular: I, me, my, mine.
- 2nd person singular: thou, thee, thy, thine.
- 3rd person singular:
- male/gender neutral: he, him, his, his.
- female: she, her, her, hers.
- neuter: it, it, his (or thereof or of it. Its is used only once), his.
- 1st person plural: we, us, our, ours.
- 2nd person plural: ye, you, your, yours.
- 3rd person plural: they, them, their, theirs.
The main difference is to use thou instead of you for one person, and ye for more than one person (= y’all or you guys).
Imperative: When giving a command to one person, add thou, if more than one, ye:
“be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
“Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Punctuation: is mainly used to show how long to pause when reading out loud. In order of increasing length: space (” “), comma (“,”), semicolon (“;”), colon (“:”), and period or full stop (“.”).
Paragraphs: marked with a pilcrow or paragraph mark: ¶. Paragraphs as we know them – with a topic sentence and starting on a new line – is not how the Bible was written in the original Greek and Hebrew.
Quoted speech – is not quoted. Instead a comma is followed by a capitalized word, as here when Luke 4:4 quotes Jesus quoting Isaiah:
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Again, there were not quotation marks or inverted commas in the original Greek and Hebrew. The original Greek does not even have spaces between words.
Capitalization: for quoted speech (see above), the beginning of a sentence, and for proper nouns. In the 1600s and 1700s it was common in English to capitalize common nouns, like in German still, but the KJV dropped that practice, probably to save on paper in printing such a long book.
No reverential capitalization, like using “Him” and “His” for God. That did not become common till the 1800s.
Italics – use to de-emphasize a word!
Dialect: use the written, educated English of Oxford, Cambridge and London of 75 years ago. For 1611 than meant the 1530s. For 2021 that means the 1940s, like Winston Churchill or C.S. Lewis.
Writing tips:
- Write to be understood by as many people as possible. Use short clear sentences with short, plain words that everyone knows. Use traditional names for things. Being understood is better than being precise. For example, use “robe” instead of “tunic”, even if you mean “tunic”. But do not carry this so far that you mislead or leave out important stuff.
- Write for the ear: it should sound good when read out loud. Pay attention to rhythm. Not blah blah blah blah blah, but maybe something like de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM: the LORD is MY shePHERD i SHALL not WANT (iambic pentameter).
– Abagond, 2021.
See also:
- style guide
- Authorized Version
- The calendar in the Bible
- Money in the New Testament
- punctuation: a brief history
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Abagond 
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