Inspiration answers the question of where Scripture came from. Preservation answers the question of whether we can still trust what we hold in our hands. KJV-only believers hold that the Bible answers both.
Psalm 12:6–7
"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."
A direct promise that God Himself would keep and preserve His words, not merely their general message, across generations.
Psalm 119:89
"For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."
God’s word is described as fixed and settled, not perpetually revised.
Psalm 119:152
"Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever."
The psalmist appeals to the enduring, ancient foundation of God’s testimonies as already known and settled.
Isaiah 40:8
"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever."
Contrasts the fading of created things with the permanence of God’s spoken and written word.
Matthew 5:18
"Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
Christ affirms the preservation of Scripture down to its smallest letters and marks.
Matthew 24:35
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
Christ’s own words are declared more permanent than the created order itself.
1 Peter 1:23–25
"Being born again... by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever... the word of the Lord endureth for ever."
Peter ties the enduring nature of God’s word directly to the believer’s new birth, quoting Isaiah 40:8.
From promise to practice
KJV-only believers connect these promises to a historical claim: that the Byzantine manuscript tradition behind the KJV represents the text as it was actually copied, read, and used continuously by the church, generation after generation — the visible outworking of a God who keeps His promises in real history, not only in principle. That historical argument is laid out in full on the Textus Receptus page, and the practical translation choices that follow from it are explained on the Why KJV page.
A note on the claim: Christians who use other translations affirm these same preservation verses; they differ with KJV-only believers on how, exactly, God has preserved His Word, and through which manuscripts and translations that preservation is best seen today.