Bible Translations

I use the New American Standard. I know that makes me an oddball amongst most Christians. Many still use the King James Version, and I still have quite a number of copies of that on hand. Most of the people that use a modern English translation use the New International Version.

The KJV was the best translation of its time, but was mostly the latest in a series of updates to William Tyndale's translation. Since then, not only has the English language changed, but manuscripts in the original languages that are older than those available to the KJV translators have been found. Plus many more manuscripts have been found, giving the translators more texts for comparison to consolidate into a standard text to translate from. This contributes to the literal accuracy of the NASB. As a matter of fact the biggest criticism of the NASB is that it was too literal and not easy to read. Because of that, the Lockman Foundation, the translators of the NASB issued an update in 1995 to make it more readable without compromising its accuracy.

And speaking of accuracy, the KJV translators got it wrong a couple of times. For example, in Romans 4: 19, the King James says, "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead," while the New American Standard says,"Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old..." I used boldface to highlight the contrast between the translations. I won't expound on this passage here, because I want to show that the KJV committee introduced a word or thought that is not in the original.

Now about changes in the English language: At times I hear preachers read or quote a passage from the King James, and then they have to stop and explain in modern terms what the Elizabethan words meant. If they used the NASB, they wouldn't have to do that. Why waste preaching time to give an update? Besides that, the preacher wouldn't know the update was necessary unless he studied it out, maybe by consulting the NASB. Why waste study time?
On a related note, preachers all the time use words or terms from the KJV without explaining what they mean. One passage in the KJV says the Holy Spirit distributes the gifts "severally" as He wills. What does "severally" mean? I could explain it, but I want you to look it up for yourself. Do you some good to do a little digging. Proverbs 25: 2 says, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter."

Why don't I use the NIV? Well, it's a thought-by-thought translation, and it loses some of the accuracy.

Don't take this as a criticism of preachers that use the KJV. I do wish they used the NASB, but I recognize that some of them have a closer relationship to God than I have, and it is not my place to get them to change the translation they use. If they ask why I use the NASB, I will explain and let them decide for themselves if they wish to stay with the translation they are using.