WHAT IS SO GOOD ABOUT THE KJV?
For 400 years the King James Version remained unchallenged as the standard Protestant English Bible. Newer translations did come out from 1611 to the mid 20th century but none of those gained widespread acceptance among the English-speaking Protestant churches. Then starting in the mid 20th century new translations began to gain in popularity. The Revised Standard Version (both testaments published in 1952) was the first serious contender against the King James Version. Then in the 1960’s-1970’s came the New American Standard Bible, Living Bible, New International Version, New King James Version, and eventually scores of others. Many of those mid 20th century translations had lost their popularity by the 21st century. Some of the top contenders today by number of sales are the 2011 update to the New International Version, English Standard Version, and New Living Translation. With so many newer translations available, many Christians think of the King James Version as an irrelevant relic from a bygone era. However, in the midst of this coming and going of new translations, the King James Version has withstood the test of time and continues to have a solid reader base, and for good reasons. This page describes the superb features of the King James Version.
Doctrine
No Demonstrable Error
Books such as The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust the Modern Translations? by James R. White and The King James Version Debate: A Plea for Realism by D.A. Carson point to alleged translation and textual errors in the KJV. While the stated goal of these types of books is to refute KJV “only-ism” (the idea that Christians should use only the KJV), these authors are not neutral in terms of assessing the translation and textual choices in the KJV. James R. White was a consultant for the New American Standard Bible and D.A. Carson was a translator of the New Living Translation. Although there may be different opinions on translation or textual choices (as proposed by these authors), every reading in the KJV can be justified by reasonable alternative theories. This website (www.kjvtoday.com) refutes over 150 allegations of errors to show that the KJV is demonstrably inerrant.
Fuller, Doctrinally Superior Text
The New Testament of the KJV, as with the NKJV, is based on the Textus Receptus, a variety of the Byzantine family of New Testament manuscripts. Many popular translations (e.g. NASB, NIV, ESV, HCSB) are based on the Nestle-Aland text (i.e. NA 27, UBS 4), which is based on the Alexandrian family of manuscripts. Translations based on these Alexandrian readings omit or cast doubt on many important words and verses: e.g. The ending of Mark (Mark 16:9-20), The story of the adulteress (John 8:1-11), The conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:13), The angel at the pool (John 5:4), The confession of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:37), Matt 12:47, 17:21, 18:11, 21:44, 23:14, Mark 7:16, 9:44, 9:46, 11:26, 15:28, Luke 17:36, 22:43, 22:44, 23:17, Acts 15:34, 24:7, 28:29, Rom 16:24, 1 John 5:7. It is generally accepted even by proponents of the Alexandrian texts that the Textus Receptus readings are doctrinally superior. The main page of this website has links to pages defending the Textus Receptus.
Accuracy
Literal Translation
The KJV is an essentially literal translation. Many new translations (NIV, NLT) are based on a translation philosophy called “Dynamic Equivalence” (DE) made popular by Eugene Nida of the American Bible Society. With DE, translators act as interpreters rather than translators. Thus readers of these dynamic translations end up reading the interpretations of scholars rather than the actual biblical text.
Person Distinction
The KJV uses “thou” and “ye” and inflected verbs to distinguish between the second person singular and the second person plural. “Thou, thee, thy” refer to one person whereas “ye, you, your” refer to more than one person. Other modern languages such as Spanish (“tú” and “vosotros”), French (“tu” and “vous”), German (“du” and “ihr”) and Chinese (“你” and “你們”) still maintain this distinction. Without this grammatical distinction, the reader cannot identify whether an individual or a group is being spoken of in passages such as Exod 4:15, 29:42, 2 Sam 7:23, Matt 26:64, Luke 22:31-32, John 3:7, 1 Cor 8:9-12, 2 Tim 4:22, Tit 3:15, Phlm 21-25.
Use of Italics
The KJV translators italicized words that do not appear in the original languages but were added in order to convey the meaning of the text. Most modern translations (i.e. NIV, ESV, TNIV) do not indicate added words with italics. For example, Psalm 16:2 in the KJV says, “Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee” (“extendeth” is italicized). In the latter part of this sentence the original Hebrew only has the words “my goodness,” “not” and “to thee.” The KJV translators added “extendeth” to convey the meaning of the sentence and they indicated the addition by the use of italics. The notes to the Oxford Annotated Bible NRSV say that the Hebrew is uncertain in Ps 16:2. Thus, Bible versions do not translate this verse in the same way. However, most modern translations do not use italics to notify the reader concerning words added by the translators. The NASB and NKJV also use italics to indicate added words.
No Quotation Marks
Quotation marks (“ ”) identify spoken statements. The KJV does not enclose any words in quotation marks. “Why is this a good thing?” one might ask. The KJV does not use quotation marks because the original Hebrew and Greek texts do not use them. There are many passages where translators must guess as to whether a statement is spoken by the narrator or the character. Sometimes the placement of quotation marks are misleading, or at the very least rob a reader of another valid interpretation of the text. Please refer to the page linked to above for examples of passages where quotation marks can be misleading.
Style
Complex Compound Sentences
The KJV seldom splits complex sentences as they are found in the Greek. For example, Rom 1:1-7 and Heb 1:1-4 are each one sentence in the Greek and in the KJV, but even the most literal of modern translations, the NASB and the ESV, split each sentence into several sentences. Complex sentences convey relationships between ideas more effectively and keep the author’s thought process more apparent.
Hebraisms
The KJV preserves lexicographical and syntactical Hebraisms (William Rosenau, Hebraisms in the Authorized Version of the Bible). Many contemporary translations, in an attempt to make the Bible sound more familiar to readers, dilute the Hebrew feel of the Bible. Much of the peculiarity of the language of the KJV is due to its faithful mimicry of the Hebrew language. Some Hebraic expressions such as the Hebraic anticipatorial accusative (“God saw the light, that it was good” Gen 1:4) and Hebraic double prepositions (“Abram went up out of Egypt” Gen 13:1) are completely removed even in translations that are purported to be essentially literal, such as the NASB and the ESV. Acclaimed Greek teacher John Dobson, author of Learn New Testament Greek, 3rd ed, invites his students to pay close attention to the Hebraic influence in the Greek New Testament. Due to his apparent preference for dynamic translations, he does not seem to prefer the KJV. However, he acknowledges that the KJV “follows Hebrew style more closely than a modern translator would normally do” (305).
Conformity with Greek Structure and Style
In the New Testament, the KJV often follows the Greek word order more closely than most translations. For example, Matthew 17:19 says, “Then came the disciples to Jesus.” This syntax, which has the verb preceding the subject, may seem peculiar to contemporary English-speaking audiences; but the word order in the KJV follows the Greek word order (pote proselthontes hoi mathetai to Iesou). Mimicking the exact style and structure of the Greek can sometimes preserve what is emphasized in the Greek. Another feature common in the KJV is the historical present tense. The KJV often uses the present tense to describe past action: e.g. “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John” (Matt 3:13). This is because the KJV faithfully translates the Greek which is also in the present tense. Greek writers used the historical present tense to add emphasis to important past actions. The historical present tense has the effect of making past narratives more vivid. Modern translations unfortunately tend to translate the historical present tense in the simple past tense.
Poetry
The Bible is a very poetic book. The obvious poetic books are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. But even the Old Testament prophecies and Revelation are full of poetic features such as rich imageries, parallelisms, hyperboles, and similes. The books of the Pentateuch are also ripe with poetry, according to Everett Fox, the author of The Five Books of Moses. He believes that the Pentateuch is full of “oral” poetic qualities that often go unnoticed to Western readers. In fact, Jews throughout the centuries sang the Torah using cantillation marks. In the New Testament, we find poetic features such as parables, similitudes, beatitudes, Pauline metaphors, Peter’s apocalyptic utterances, John’s juxtaposition of darkness and light, etc. A truly poetic translation such as the KJV does justice to the poetry of the Bible.
Background
Authorized by a Bible-believing Christian King
King James who authorized the KJV was a Bible-believing Christian king who unapologetically upheld the doctrines of biblical inerrancy, infallibility and sufficiency (sola scriptura). On biblical inerrancy he said, “When ye read the Scripture, read it with a sanctified & chaste ear: admire reverently such obscure places as ye understand not, blaming only your own incapacity” (Book I:13, Basilicon Doron). On biblical infallibility he said, “The whole Scripture containeth but two things: a command, and a prohibition; to do such things, and abstain from the contrary. Obey in both;” (Book I:7, Basilicon Doron). That a Christian king would cause the Bible in English to be published was William Tyndale’s final prayer as he was publicly executed in 1536 crying out, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” (David Daniell, The Bible in English: Its History and Influence. New Haven: Yale UP, 2003 at 156).
Source: Go to http://www.kjvtoday.com to read more of the article, and for other articles upholding the excellencies of the KJV and its underlying Hebrew and Greek texts.
