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Wow, thanks everyone! Lots of good food for thought here-- I will be re-reading this thread again.

I am mainly interested in a more readable version of the bible because I haven't been able to plough through the old testament in my KJV. I just want to read it through once, not for study but rather for general narrative and flavor. Although I did study a LOT of literature in both high school and college, with particular attention to early English literature, the KJV is still more work than I want for this kind of a read-through. (I've read through the new testament in the KJV several times, but it just seems more accessible than the OT, so that's ok.) And, from some comments I read here I can see that I might need to look to further NT translations to facilitate deeper study.

On the other hand, in my view, the KJV simply cannot be beat for it's sheer poetic value in English. Every language has a flavor, but not every era of every language is equally poetic. The KJV simply resonates-- particularly for any devotee of Donne or Herbert. The difficulty lies, I think, in understanding the meaning in the same way as it would have been understood by a literate person of those earlier times. I do ok at that, but not great, not by a long shot. ;)

But I do agree, Cvengr, that all of the study we do with God's guidance will be true. He truly does hold us all in the palm of his hand. Since my faith was of purely experiental origin, and continues each day through His grace, I do not think that even a bad translation could harm it.

May God bless everyone who has helped me here. Thank you!

On the other hand, in my view, the KJV simply cannot be beat for it's sheer poetic value in English. Every language has a flavor, but not every era of every language is equally poetic. The KJV simply resonates-- particularly for any devotee of Donne or Herbert. The difficulty lies, I think, in understanding the meaning in the same way as it would have been understood by a literate person of those earlier times. I do ok at that, but not great, not by a long shot. ;)

I love the English of the KJV. I also like the fact that it's a more literal translation (though some of the earlier renditions were a little funny because they included things like, "he that pisseth against the wall" which should have been translated as "man". ) There are versions of the Bible in Portuguese and in Spanish which are also more literal translations and can be used for language learning (assuming you're really familiar with the KJV to begin with). It's just too bad that the translators for the KJV used the more popular but inferior Greek text for the NT (and, btw, I was a Bib Lit major w/Greek minor at a very, VERY conservative school with close ties to Bob Jones University--my Greek teacher was a graduate of BJU--and even they wouldn't claim the Textus Receptus to be the best Greek text).