And despite the claims of the advocates of modern versions, whether of literal equivalent, dynamic equivalency, or just plain paraphrase like TEV, I believe that the King James/Authorized Version translation is still the most reliable English translation available, especially when supplementwed by the work of commentators whos analyses are freely available through eSword or other published volumes.
A good one-volume study Bible is the Thompson Chain-Reference KJV Bible (click here) that has been around and critiqued by fine Bible scholars for over a century.
The chief codex behind Westcott's text was the one discovered in the burn barrel of the St Catherine's Monastery down in the Sinai. Their valuation of this "oldest" version was that its preservation can be ascribed to the shelving of it for centuries because of its poorness of faithfulness in reproduction of even earlier manuscripts.
This was also true of many scrolls of the Dead Sea find, and this fact about those scrolls was communicated to me by Dr. Lawrence Schiffman, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls curators, in a personal conversation with him in his visit to Philadelphia College of the Bible, back in the 1990s.
No one who wants to really use a (fallible) translation of the Bible help guide his/her life cannot get very far without (a) having the Indwelling Holy Spirit to guide, and (b) willing to learn something of Greek and the discipline of its translation and interpretation, to begin to understand the mind of a first-century follower of The Christ.
Study of the Bible for this purpose is not a boot-strapping operation. The newborn babe in Christ needs to be discipled by (a) legitimately mature Christian(s) through the process of progressively applied holiness. A good study Bible may help, but it by itself is not sufficient. Modern versions will inherently lead the reader astray through their mistranslations and/or applications, as I have seen in a lifetime of observing the results in their adoption by individuals and whole denominations--the Methodists for one (I am 83, and raised as a Methodist PK, not truly saved until age 34 apart from the Wesleyan culture).
Are you familiar with the field of Textual Criticism?
You might remember that the KJV deliberately mistranslated words to keep it “High Church”. They were ordered to by King James, who said, “No Bishop. No King.”
Well I’ll disagree because God will use translations of varying sorts to teach and use by His Spirit...after all He is the author.
Though the King James/Authorized version is beautiful to read, which I enjoy very much, it doesn’t always meet the vocabulary requirements of todays language......Joseph’s ‘gay’ coat would certainly mislead some.