The purpose of this translation of the Bible is to preserve as much as possible the style and meaning of the King James Version of the Bible, while modernizing the language where the King James Version is hard to understand or excessively awkward. Many Christians prefer the King James Version, but find it hard to read. This Bible is intended for them. The reviser believes that the King James Version is the most interesting and most accurate of all English translations. The King James translators were men of great piety as well as great learning. In addition, they were Bible believing Protestants who were not far removed from the Protestant Reformation. It would be difficult today to find a group of men having comparable learning, piety, and dedication to Bible Protestantism. Also, there is reason to believe that the underlying manuscripts on which the KJV is based are more accurate than those that underlie the modern versions. The KJV translators may also have had access to Bibles, such as Waldensian Bibles, that are no longer available or are very difficult to obtain. The reviser believes that the Lord guided the KJV translators in every word that they wrote. In addition, the King James Version is generally appreciated for its style.
There are many places where the language in the King James Version is difficult to understand today. Words such as “clouted” and “beeves” are no longer generally understood. What does it mean in 1 Samuel 26:5 when it says that “Saul lay in the trench”? “Fenced” cities are really fortified cities. “Coasts” can refer to a boundary or to territory. These problems make reading the King James Version difficult in places. Also, even in the Old Testament, there are places where the modern versions do not faithfully reflect the meaning of the King James Version. Deuteronomy 4:12 states, “And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.” The New International Version translates “similitude” as “form.” The term “similitude” in the King James Version is similar to “likeness” and is an implicit condemnation of idol worship, which is absent in the New International Version. Genesis 31:36 states, “And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?” The New King James version has “rebuked” for “chode” which implies a moral superiority not implied by the term “chode” (or “chided”). 1 Samuel 21:5 states, “And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.” The NIV reads, “David replied, ‘Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men's things are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!’”
Because of such problems with the King James Version and with modern versions, this translation attempts to preserve as much as possible of the style and meaning of the King James Version, while updating the language where necessary. Antiquated expressions or constructions are frequently left in in order to be as close as possible to the KJV. The original words and even punctuation of the KJV are preserved as much as possible. When changes are made, either a word or phrase is substituted for a word in the KJV, or else a phrase in the KJV is replaced by an equivalent phrase, keeping the order of the thoughts in the sentence as nearly as possible the same as that in the KJV. This similarity to the KJV is valuable because it means that if the KJV is being read it is easy to follow along in this translation, and vice versa. It also permits verses memorized in one version to be easily transferred to the other. In addition, this version can be a stepping stone, serving as a transition to the KJV for those who find it difficult to read in places. The reviser attempted to make the vocabulary of this version as simple as possible. The reviser has seen other versions attempting to update the KJV, but the ones he has seen frequently use language that does not read smoothly, greatly modify the language of the KJV, or else leave in the thee’s and the thou’s. Most of these versions do not have the same objective as the current version. In addition, the New King James Version is not always faithful to the KJV in its meaning.
The changes made were either updating of antiquated words and constructions like “thee” and “thou” by modern forms that are clearly equivalent or replacing words that have little or no meaning to modern readers. Words like “Gog and Magog,” “abomination of desolation,” “atonement,” and “remission” have become part of the Christian culture and are unchanged. Therefore there should not be much question about whether this version comes closer to expressing the meaning of the King James Version for modern readers than the original itself. In some cases words added for clarification are put in italics to indicate this fact. In a very small number of places, small changes to the KJV were made to bring the text closer to the literal Hebrew or Greek, and in one place, a word in italics in the KJV was changed. Old forms of pronouns are preserved in the command form (“Praise ye the Lord,” “hear thou from heaven”) in many places. Readers are encouraged to read this version for themselves and see how it reads and how it compares to the King James Version.
Here are places where the meaning of the King James Version was changed. The references to “dance” or “dancing” in the Psalms were replaced by “piping” or “singing” because the Hebrew does not refer to dancing as we know it, and may simply refer to piping, and also because of the great emphasis that has been placed on these references to introduce dancing into worship. The references to “daily sacrifice” in Daniel 8:11-13 were replaced by “daily service” because the word “sacrifice” is not in the Hebrew and “service” is more general. The word “Easter” in Acts 12:4 was replaced by “Passover” which is more in accordance with the Greek. The phrase “ordained to eternal life” in Acts 13:48 was changed to “disposed to eternal life” because the Greek does not necessarily imply predestination. Perhaps “receptive to eternal life” would be a better translation.
This translation was done using the e-Sword software, available over the web from http://www.e-sword.net as well as online dictionaries of the English language. Some Bible versions available on this software were frequently consulted, including the American Standard Version, the Modern King James Version by Jay P. Green, and the English Majority Text Version of the New Testament by Paul W. Esposito. Factors taken into account in the translation process were the definitions of words in the KJV as found in old dictionaries, the way in which words and expressions are used elsewhere in the KJV, as a guide to how the KJV translators understood them, the underlying Hebrew and Greek and their English translations, and the context of the passage. Also, five Bible commentaries, that of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Barnes, Wesley, Clarke, and Matthew Henry, as well as the 1599 Geneva Bible Translation Notes, were frequently consulted for insight into the meaning of the passage. Modern versions such as the New International Version, the New King James Version, and the Revised Standard Version and occasionally Luther’s German Bible were consulted, when no other guidance seemed sufficient to determine a suitable translation and the passage appeared to have very little theological significance. This translation was begun during the summer of 2006 when the reviser was staying at Little Point Sable, Michigan.