Posted on 03/14/2014 9:15:38 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
When Americans reach for their Bibles, more than half of them pick up a King James Version (KJV), according to a new study advised by respected historian Mark Noll.
The 55 percent who read the KJV easily outnumber the 19 percent who read the New International Version (NIV). And the percentages drop into the single digits for competitors such as the New Revised Standard Version, New America Bible, and the Living Bible.
So concludes "The Bible in American Life," a lengthy report by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Funded by the Lilly Foundation, researchers asked questions on what David Briggs of the ARDA, which first reported the results, calls "two of the most highly respected data sources for American religion"—the General Social Survey and the National Congregations Study.
The numbers are surprising, given the strong sales of NIV translations in bookstores. The NIV has topped the CBA's bestselling Bible translation list for decades, and continued to sell robustly in 2013.
The high numbers of KJV readers confirm the findings of last year's American Bible Society (ABS) State of the Bible report. On behalf of ABS, Barna Group found that 52 percent of Americans read the King James or the New King James Version, compared with 11 percent who read the NIV. The KJV also received almost 45 percent of the Bible translation-related searches on Google, compared with almost 24 percent for the NIV, according to Bible Gateway's Stephen Smith.
In fact, searches for the KJV seem to be rising distinctly since 2005, while most other English translations are staying flat or are declining, according to Smith's Google research.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
Have always used the KJV and always will. The English is beautiful — and there is something to be said for what the Bible means in English.
Thus spaketh thee Sarah Iekhoff Zylstra.
Would you rather read Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet or the script from Westside Story?
I find it amusing to listen to preachers and pastors who use the KJV ALWAYS quote the verse in Olde English then translate it into modern english so their listeners can keep up.
Why is that?
/rhetorical question
The first Bible I ever owned was The Living Bible. And for whatever reason, restructuring the Bible into 20th-century English really blunts its impact. My current Bible (which, I have to admit, I don’t read nearly as often as I should) is a New American Standard translation, which I think captures much of the feel of the KJV without the archaic language.
Well put.
You cannot read English Lit thoroughly without a good working knowledge of the KJV. Many authors will just assume that on their readers' part . . . Anthony Trollope is an example - he just tosses Scriptural references in in passing, and you had better know what you're looking at (he also gives the Book of Common Prayer a workout, so while you're at it . . . )
With that said, the compilers of the Authorized Version did not have access to all the manuscripts we have today. There are some translation errors. The 17th century English is also full of pitfalls for those who are not familiar with it - many words have changed meanings, and some are now the opposite of what they used to be (e.g. "let").
But of course there are many, many worse translations out there. Leaving aside all the weird stuff like the Teen Bible and the Gospels in Gullah . . . I have to say that the NAB is an awful translation and I wish the bishops would burn it. Prefer the Douay, although it can be just as obscure as the KJV for the same reasons, plus it is rather Latinate (no surprise). My personal favorite at the moment is the Knox Bible, which is brilliantly translated, especially the Hebrew . . . what "dynamic translation" is SUPPOSED to be.
But when I quote off the cuff, I generally quote KJV.
Mark 1:17
Example: KJV: And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men."
NIV & NLT: "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."
I will not budge for men-hating language. "Men" is quite clear.
I agree.
I have Hertz’ “The Pentatuch and Haftorahs” which is Hebrew Torah and scripture with side-by-side English translation. Yet it also references the KJV as well as several other sources. Where it may differ, I always prefer the language of Shakespeare, who is rumored to have embedded his own name in one of the Psalms.
Same here. KJV for me. I have read some others I like but I just love the language used in the KJV. So inspirational.
**I have to say that the NAB is an awful translation and I wish the bishops would burn it.**
Agree with you since in my searches I found that this translation was done by committees of those Bishops appointed during the Jadot and Bernardin era.
I’ve read both.
West side story is much more relevant in that Shakespeare’s plays were full of common idioms from that era that have no meaning in today’s English................
Don’t forget the translations of common animals into magical creatures from Greek mythology (e.g. Psalm 92:10, where “unicorn” substitutes for “wild bull”) . . .
KJV users, however, get only part of the Bible. Not all of it.
The KJV is beautiful, and though I left my lifelong Protestantism four years ago and a received into the Catholic Church, I still read the KJV sometimes. The language is easy for me. But for many people the language is not clear and can lead to confusion, boredom, misinterpretations, and even a loss of interest in reading Scripture.
The NIV has a lot of references for people who want to study and can be an open door for those who are not good readers. I saw this with my late father, who was not a native English speaker and never ever read the Bible, even though there were many different editions in my parents’ house. When I gave my Protestant mother a beautiful edition of the KJV for Christmas one year, my father was entranced and began reading it, covertly but urgently. I only hope it made him accept Christ.
That sounds like quite a text. My family has several translations in the house but for me, there’s really only one.
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