I agree with you. My Grandfather attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville in the early 1900’s.
He could translate both Greek and Latin tho not Aramaic.
I never discussed it at length, but remember him telling Daddy that the King James version was an extremely accurate translation. He went on at some length about how much effort they put into it, sort of what you were saying.
I personally like “The Living Bible” which is a paraphrase but very readable and I think it does get the meaning right.
Please, don't do that. You are reading what someone tells you what they think it means, not what it says. It's fine for beginners but once it's time for the training wheels to come off, step up to the New King James Version. Very readable. Good notations for those that need them, but it's the real deal.
“I personally like “The Living Bible” which is a paraphrase but very readable and I think it does get the meaning right.”
I gave my older sister a “Living Bible” thinking it might be easier for her. She said it was finally a Bible that she could read and understand. Between that Bible, and two women having a Bible study with her in prison once a week for a year, she became a Christian.
Several years later when she died of her alcholism it was amazing to see her attitude of how God was watching over her, and that it would be okay. Especially since most of her life had been spent wallowing in guilt and fear, and how could God love her with all the bad things she had done, etc.
Hard to read the Psalms in anything but the King James though!
One additional reason why I like the KJV Bible is because when I read Proverbs I can match several scriptures in Proverbs which clearly match scripture events which our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, was performing in the Gospels.
Furthermore, the KJV Bible makes for an excellent study of the book of Proverbs. The book of Proverbs is actually an outline of some of the events during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. I am writing blogs and articles on Proverbs: for which its greater purpose was to teach a Jewish man how to grow and mature as a son; Christ Jesus actually utilized Proverbs in this way, in His flesh only, to grow into a mature son, so that Christ could fulfill that Jewish son-ship program. Outside of Soloman, son of David, Jesus Christ was the only Jewish man, via Proverbs, to attain unto a mature son as a man of understanding, unto wise counsel, to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. [Proverbs 1:5-6]
Proverbs 1:2-6, is the outline of the mature son program, and it serves as a outline of the entire book of Proverbs. The balance of the book of Proverbs follows this outline.