I have been trying to understand the difference between the verbs 'will' and 'shall' in the KJV.
OED seems to indicate that 'will' implies desire; and 'shall' implies determination. (That is a loose paraphrase)
Wikipedia says this from this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shall_and_will#cite_note-2
And this...
From my cursory glance at their usage in the KJV it appears that the words have nothing to do with the 'person'. See below:
Does this mean that the difference is between 'desire' (will), and 'determination' (shall)? Is there a resource somewhere that speaks about some rules that the KJV translators used to determine which word they would use?
OED seems to indicate that 'will' implies desire; and 'shall' implies determination. (That is a loose paraphrase)
Wikipedia says this from this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shall_and_will#cite_note-2
Whether the prescribed usage had basis in common usage or only ever existed inside the minds of grammarians, it is largely or completely ignored by American, Scots and Irish speakers of English, which constitute the majority of English-speaking people.[2] Nevertheless, the differences between the two words were once thought by some people to be real, so much so that Dwight D. Eisenhower was reputed to have fired an aide who could not understand the (then supposed) distinction between "shall" and "will."[3]
^ Larrabee, Eric, Commander in Chief -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants and Their War, at page 420, Harper and Rowe, New York, NY 1987 ISBN 0-06-0390050-6
And this...
Old English did not have a future tense, but because the verbs shall and will hint at one, they were conscripted by the language's development and became modal verbs.
In declarative sentences under the pure system, shall is not used in the first person, since one does not usually give commands to oneself. Therefore, shall became the auxiliary verb for expressing simple futurity in the first person. Will, on the other hand, is not often used in the second and third persons in statements under the pure system and so second and third person will became the auxiliary verb for expressing simple futurity in the second and third persons:
Shall and its past tense form should denote simple futurity in the first person.
Will and its past tense form would denote simple futurity in the second and third persons.
Hence the following were supposed to be the proper forms of expressing simple futurity:
I shall, you will, die some day.
Shall I, will they, be here to-morrow?
We should, he would, have consented if you had asked.
Should we, would he, have missed you if you had been there?
I should, you would, like a bath.
Should I, would he, like it myself, himself?
From my cursory glance at their usage in the KJV it appears that the words have nothing to do with the 'person'. See below:
Ps 7:17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.
Ps 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me: because [he is] at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Does this mean that the difference is between 'desire' (will), and 'determination' (shall)? Is there a resource somewhere that speaks about some rules that the KJV translators used to determine which word they would use?