Bible Question: I really desire to study the Word of God using the King James Version. I've noticed that you use many different versions. How do you decide which version to use, and why switch from one to the next?   Bible Answer: Each and every Bible has its advantages and disadvantages. Currently there are a wide variety of Bibles for sale. Most of the new Bibles seek to help Christians in their spiritual walk such as: "KJV Share Jesus without Fear New Testament," " HCSB Experiencing the Word Gospel of John", "Celebrate Jesus 2000 New Testament," "NKJV Serenity New Testament, Psalms & Proverbs," "The Woman's Study Bible," "The Full Life Study Bible," "NKJV Spirit-Filled Life Bible," or the NIV Prophecy Marked Reference Study Bible." The list goes on.      Serious Study. These Bibles can help one study the Word of God, but most Christians do not know the original Hebrew or Greek language the Bible was written in. For serious Bible study, I want a Bible that is a very accurate translation. So, I prefer the New American Standard Bible (NASB or NAS) and the New King James Version (NKJV) because they try to match one English word to one Hebrew or one Greek word. These Bibles usually give you a very understanding of the original language. The NIV (New International Version) is an example of a Bible that takes the opposite approach. This Bible is called a dynamic-equivalence translation because it attempts to give you the meaning or the sense of the passage. Consequently, words will be inserted that do not appear in the original language and words will be left out. This is unfortunate because they are really inserting their own understanding. Many readers will not read the introduction and discover this.      Older Bibles. The older Bibles are preferred by many Christians for various reasons. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) and King James Versions (KJV) are usually the choice. The RSV seriously departs from the original language at times. The KJV is a very good translation. If we ask, "How accurate are the KJV, NAS, NKJV, RSV, and NIV Bibles to the original languages?" The answer is the NKJV comes in first. The NAS is second, the KJV Bible is third and then the others follow: RSV and NIV.      When To Use Which Bible. So, I use the NAS and NKJV Bibles most of the time because they are closer to the original than the others. I use other Bibles sometimes because another Bible may be the best translation for a particular passage. It is often not possible to give the actual sense of the Hebrew or Greek language with one word because the language is foreign to us.   Conclusion: I would encourage you to try the NKJV Bible. You will find that it is very close to the KJV. Some of the wording has been improved because the NKJV has replaced words which have chnaged their meaning over the years. Also, the NKJV has removed some portions of the KJV that should never have been included such as 1 John 5:7. There is no serious manuscript support for this passage. I will attempt to address this topic in a future study.       < Back
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