Ben Chayyim, Jacob: - Jacob ben Hayyim (Jacob ben Chayyim) was a scholar of the Masoretic textual notes on the Hebrew Bible, as well as an exegete and printer. He left his native country to escape the persecutions that broke out there at the beginning of the sixteenth century and later settled in Venice, where he was engaged as corrector of the Hebrew press of Daniel Bomberg. Ben Chayyim's name is known chiefly in connection with his edition of the Mikraot Gedolot or "Rabbinical Bible" (1524-25), which he supplied with Masoretic notes and an introduction. The value of his activity as a Masorete was recognized even by Elia Levita. Ben Chayyim's Rabbinical Bible is believed to be the source text used by the translators of the King James Version.