What's your favorite version of the Bible? A friend recently gave me a very nice edition of the King James version. It was a totally unexpected Christmas surprise. I started reading it that night, and I have to say I like it much better than the modern translations. The language is so beautiful. Maybe it's the heightened tone but I find the KJV the most compelling translation I've come across. It's like a song or exquisite poetry. It's like coming home. Peace. msi.
I also prefer the KJV, of the Dutch equivalent, the 'Statenvertaling'. I checked out some newer translations as well but it's just not the same, it feels colder. I don't have the idea I'm reading the word of God when I use newer translations. Plus, I believe the KJV is the most accurate translation, which I think is most important.
For an accepted authority, I usually quote the KJAV. For a translation that my heart feels nearest to, the Good News Bible is my favorite. The Song of Solomon is one place where the exact wording of the scriptures is different enough that I am able to prefer one version over the other.
I didn't know that...but still I think it's a very thrustworthy translation. I don't use it that much anyway, the Dutch version is still my favorite since I know large pieces by head :H. We also use this one at home and at school. But which bits did he change and why?
well he was king, and through that timeframe (1600s) religion was quite a big thing in england. a new monarch could bring about a different denomination and the entire country would basically be forced to conform to that denomination. when james translated the bible its just natural that he "adjusted" certain parts to go along with what he believed in.
The only copy I have is the NIV. I've wanted to check out the KJV, cuz I've heard there are a lot of differences in it compared to others. Have any of you who have read KJV and another version noticed any significant differences?
I have to agree, the KJV is very "Shakespearean" in tongue. Plus, there are time when you actually have to THINK about what it saying. There really aren't that many differences between the major versions, except for style. The New Jerusalem bible used by Jehova's Witnesses is quite a bit different. I would like to get a fully translated single bound copy of the Ethiopian bible. Excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church in 451, they had one of the early canons adopted by the Church that included in the OT: the Octateuch, Judith, Samuel and Kings , Chronicles, 1 Esdras and the Ezra Apocalypse, Esther, Tobit, Maccabees, Job, Psalms , books of Solomon,Prophets (16), Ecclesiasticus, Pseudo-Josephus, Jubilees, and Enoch. New Testament includes: the Gospels (4), Acts, the Catholic epistles (7), the Pauline epistles (14), Revelation (1), Sinodos (4 sections), the Book of the Covenant (2 sections), Clement (1), and Didascalia (The "teachings" or "constitution" of the Apostles).
Enoch, in particular, was thought to be lost in the West, but was of invaluable importance to writers of the New Testement, like Paul, who believed it was canonical. I think it was James Bruce, a Scotish explorer of the Lower Nile/Blue Nile who found it, and translated it for the West in the late 1700s.
