Do people still read the KJV?

[BALAAM]

I still read only the kjv. I am sure we have a couple of other translations around here and in our church services they use the esv but I am fine with what I have read for the past many years.

 

[christundivided]

The KJV is the only Bible you can buy at the dollar store....which probably has a lot to do with those stats.

Actually, the NIV has outsold the KJV since 1986, which only makes the preponderance of KJV use to be even more interesting. The authors of the report are careful to point that out.

So you're actually "buying into" the idea that there is a some form  of "sacred dialect" exclusive to the KJV?

 

[Izdaari]

I own a good many translations, and may read any of them, depending. But mostly I prefer the ESV, NRSV and N.T. Wright's Kingdom New Testament (that's a brand new one). 

The KJV I mostly save for Psalms, because its literary style works really well there.

I think its "literary style" works very well from cover to cover.

That "iterary style"sets it apart from all the other books & material I read through out the week. It also reminds me it's not just any old book i'm reading & who the author is!

True that the literary style works cover to cover. But, for those of us who aren't English Lit majors or who didn't grow up with it, that comes at the cost of being very hard to comprehend. I don't mind that so much when reading poetry, where the style is the main thing. Of course, lifelong KJV readers are totally used to it and find it easy enough... but I'm talking about the rest of us.

 

[Fresh Air]

Is that major KJV publishers only?

I don't know. I seriously doubt Indiana University is aware of the preponderance of publishing houses like Bearing Precious Seed, at al, that print and distribute lots of free KJV's. They did make one reference to the KJVO movement, and footnoted James White for more information.

 

[bruinboy]

I only read the KJV, but I do not buy into the heresy of KJVO. 

It is quite amusing to listen to pastors who are KJVO, say in their sermon, "this word should really be translated as ..............."  or "this word in the Greek, means" ...............

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

I only read from the KJV because the Elizabethan English makes me sound so pious. 

 

[Izdaari]

I only read from the KJV because the Elizabethan English makes me sound so pious.

And because that elegant Elizabethan English is so very much like the street pidgin koine Greek the NT was mostly written in? 

 

[HereIStand]

Thanks for posting the article.

I read the Psalms in the KJV last year, and like Izdaari, enjoy its literary qualities.
Like many of you, I do have and use other translations, such as the ESV and NIV.
The study notes in the ESV Study Bible are helpful. I also read the NRSV some, since
our church is mainline, and that's what is used. I find it too be helpful in places, but
the gender neutral language is off-putting.

One translation that I have, but haven't had time to get into is the 1970s RSV. It's similar to the
NRSV (as I understand it) minus the gender neutral language.

Another translation that I've used a bit of online is the Douay-Rheims. It was helpful in reading
Augustine, since it matches up closely with the translation that he uses.

There may be issues of accuracy on a scholarly level with the KJV, but I don't think any of these would detract from any significant doctrinal point. And in my view, the same could be said of other translations. As I've heard it said, the best translation of the Bible is the one you'll read.

 

[prophet]

I only read the KJV, but I do not buy into the heresy of KJVO. 

It is quite amusing to listen to pastors who are KJVO, say in their sermon, "this word should really be translated as ..............."  or "this word in the Greek, means" ...............

Yes, that is one of my favorites. 
My response is to yell, "that's what it says in the English, too".
This has made me unpopular for many years.

Anishinaabe

 

[prophet]

I only read from the KJV because the Elizabethan English makes me sound so pious.

I prithee, good sir, to consider then, ye olde Tyndale:

Rom 8:29
29 For those which he knewe before he also ordeyned before yt they shuld be lyke fassioned vnto the shape of his sonne that he myght be ye fyrst begotten sonne amoge many brethren.
(TyndaleBible)

Anishinaabe

 

[Recovering IFB]

I only read from the KJV because the Elizabethan English makes me sound so pious.

I'm reading Matthew Henry's "Quietness and Meekness of Spirit". Henry died in 1715, and this book isn't in the KJ language at all. I hardly believe that people spoke that way when Henry lived, I think it's a pride issue sometimes. 

 

[bgwilkinson]

The King James Bibles I use all have the complete text as found in the first 1611 edition.

One of my favorite editions is the Cambridge Cameo Reference Bible with Apocrypha.

Black calfskin leather KJ455:XRA

It is beautifully constructed calfskin (real) leather bound smyth sewn version.

It feels like a fine leather driving glove when you are holding it.

It is very small and fits in my suit coat pocket.

Here is where I got mine.

http://www.amazon.com/Cameo-Reference-Apocrypha-Black-Calfskin/dp/1107608074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395096884&sr=8-1&keywords=Cambridge+Cameo+Reference+Bible+with+Apocrypha.+Black+calfskin+leather+KJ455%3AXRA

The cross References are copious.

I always check to see if they have the margin note at Psalms 12:7 that shows

the verse is talking about the Godly and not the the pure words mentioned in v 6.

Heb. him: that is, every one of them.

Another one I check is the text critical note at Luke 17:36 that says This 36 verse

is wanting in most of the Greek copies.

Many of the Bibles published by local churches and do it yourself backyard publishers

are completely striped down versions that would make the translators weep at how

they mutilated their wonderful 1611 Bible.

Of course this Bible has the complete Apocrypha just as it was in the 1611 edition.

If you don't have a complete KJV 1611 Bible you might as well use a modern version.

Oh, I love and use modern versions too.


Don't tell me you use a King James Bible if your book is missing several books that

the Kings men placed in their version.

Bilson and Bancroft would be most appalled at the Bible mutilation that goes on today.

 

[kaba]

There is a family from our church that pulled their children from the Christian school my son attends when the school switched to the NIV. They pulled their kids out and put them in the public school!! Did not really understand that line of thinking! The school now uses the ESV sometimes. For the longest time they used the Quest Bible.

 

[Timotheos]

I too read the KJV 1611 most of the time.

As I have stated before my soft red leather bound First edition (he Bible) KJV 1611 is my favorite Bible

translation.  I feel so close to Bancroft, Smith and Bilson as I read from its beautiful creamy pages.

It has some of the most elegant and historic type as well as excellently reproduced art work.

http://greatsite.com/facsimile-reproductions/kingjames-1611.html

Best of all it is not horribly mutilated as are most modern KJVs printed now.

How can one claim to have a real KJV when it has been stripped of many of its historical writings is

incomprehensible to me.

One of the problems I have with modern Bibles such as the KJV, NASB, NIV and NLT is the removal

of whole books that are in my KJV1611 1st edition.

Rev 22:19 warns against taking "away from the words of the book of this prophecy".

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=kjbible&PagePosition=1504



I love to read Bel and the Dragon.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=kjbible&PagePosition=1156


The prayer of Manassess.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=kjbible&PagePosition=1158


I love to read of Jewish history totally lacking in the modern versions as well as modern KJVs.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=kjbible&PagePosition=1159


Modern MOG types should read Suzanna, maybe they would learn that immorality has a bitter end,

even for religious types.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=kjbible&PagePosition=1154




Well I can not say enough good about the good old KJV1611 1st edition. The old paths.

It has so much more to offer than the modern stripped down Bibles.

I think I just threw up in my mouth. 

Your criteria for a "best" translation is purely aesthetic.  It has nothing to do w/ linguistic and translatable substance.