"It's good for us to have some long-lasting furniture in our minds, words and images that have something a bit mysterious about them and that carry important experiences for us that we can't find words of our own for," the Church of England leader said.
"As the King James Bible took hold of the imaginations of millions of people in the English-speaking world, it gave them just that -- a big picture, a story in which their lives made sense.
"Four hundred years on, that can feel quite remote.
"You may feel that there’s only one big story and that's about money and whether I've got a job tomorrow or whether my children can afford higher education," he said.
"Whether you're a Christian or belong to another religion or whether you have nothing you'd want to call a religion at all, some kind of big picture matters.
"This year's anniversary is a chance to stop and think about the big picture."
Queen Elizabeth II also paid tribute to the King James Bible in her Christmas message to the Commonwealth.
Its phrases remain part of everyday spoken English, such as "strength to strength", "a lamb to the slaughter" and "by the skin of my teeth".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------