If you’re going to read a Bible, at some point, you’ll probably give thought as to which translation you should read. The King James Version (KJV) is a good one. Many people already own one, and it has stood the test of time. For almost 400 years, it was the Bible read by Christians throughout the English-speaking world.
As modern translations were introduced, some welcomed the contemporary language. Others felt that the church had compromised God’s Word. For example, Christians would compare the KJV with a modern translation like the English Standard Version (ESV) of Luke 23:42.
• KJV: And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
• ESV: And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Seeing that the word “Lord” was dropped from the ESV, the conclusion that some made was that this translation had tried to water down Christ’s lordship. It shows less respect for Jesus’ divine authority. But surely the question isn’t which translation uses more words to exalt Jesus, but which one is more accurate. I could rewrite the verse to say, “Jesus, divine Master, Son of God, Creator of all, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” But that wouldn’t make my verse a more faithful translation.
There are three main reasons you should trust the reliability of a modern translation like the ESV.
We have far more manuscripts now than they did 400 years ago
While the translators of the KJV did an excellent job, there have been hundreds of Greek and Hebrew manuscripts discovered since it was published. In fact, there have been over a thousand Greek manuscripts found in the last century alone. With more manuscripts and more time to study them, it’s been possible to trace how slight variations in the text crept in. Correcting these results in a more accurate representation of God’s Word.
We have far older manuscripts now than they did 400 years ago
Among the many manuscripts that have been found since the King James Version was translated, the greatest discovery was certainly the Dead Sea Scrolls. Between 1946 and 1956, a treasure trove of ancient texts from 300 BC to 70 AD was found in the 11 caves around the Qumran region on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. Among these were found Hebrew manuscripts that were more than a thousand years older than anything that had been previously possessed. All of these new manuscripts have given scholars a clearer understanding of the biblical text.
One of the changes that resulted appears in Psalm 145:13. This psalm is what’s called an acrostic with each line beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In the King James Version, the psalm skips one of the letters in the alphabet and so in Hebrew, it looks like there’s a line missing. Sure enough, when manuscripts containing Psalm 145 were discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the missing line of the psalm was there. So if you compare Psalm 145:13 in a translation done in the last 50 years with the KJV, it’s twice as long – the missing line has been put back in. In this case, it’s hard to deny that the discovery of these older manuscripts has resulted in a more accurate translation.
We know more about Greek and Hebrew than they did 400 years ago
In addition to the discovery of hundreds of biblical texts, there have also been many other ancient Greek and Hebrew texts discovered also. The Dead Sea Scrolls, for example, not only contained religious texts but also notes, letters, and shopping lists. These have helped scholars immensely because the New Testament was written in the simpler, common Greek used by everyday people rather than the classical Greek used by scholars and philosophers, and until recently there weren’t as many good examples of it.
If you enjoy the King James Version or you’re used to it, continue to read it. It’s still an excellent translation and the differences between it and the many modern translations are negligible. But if you had worried about reading another translation for fear that it was corrupt, you should be confident that modern versions are based on older, more accurate manuscripts that have been translated more precisely than they were able to do in 1611 when King James commissioned an authorized English translation of the Bible.
In awe of Him,
Paul
