Bible Study Course
Examining The New King James Version
Welcome to Book 1 in the Examining Bible Translations series of the Liberty Bible Course. This booklet deals with the examination of the New King James Version (NKJV). This study is written to be used with the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, otherwise your answers are going to be incorrect. Please get your Bible, and begin another exciting study in God’s Word, that just might change your life!
Chapter 1
I. The Background Of The New King James Version.
A. The idea to produce the New King James Version.
The idea to produce the New King James Version of the Bible was born out of a conversation between Joe Moore and his dad, who was the president of the Thomas Nelson Publishing Company. He said, “Daddy, you make so many Bibles, why can’t you make a Bible that I can understand?” (The New King James Version, by Arthur L. Farstad, pg. 1)
B. The investment to produce the New King James Version.
Joe Moore’s daddy took that request seriously, and spent four million dollars and seven years to complete a new translation of the Bible. It was finished in 1982, and was named the New King James Version. (The New King James Version, by Arthur L. Farstad, pg. 1) That is a sizable amount of money, and there is great competition out there with so many Bible translations being published. It should not be surprising, then, that the Thomas Nelson Publishing Company is trying to actively promote the New King James Version. They have a DVD available with information on it presented by Michael Cocoris, who tries to persuasively sell people on the idea of making the New King James Version their primary Bible.
C. The insistence of the publisher and promoters of the New King James Version that it is only an update of Old English words in the King James Version.
Cocoris testifies, “In 1982, when the New King James Version came out, I was the pastor of the Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles, which had been pastored by J. Vernon McGee for 21 years, so they were used to the King James Version. I introduced the change to the New King James: I had no problem — they had no problem. It is an easy transition, and I think one that is necessary, for the simple reason that the English language has changed.” (The Case for the New King James Version, by Michael Cocoris, DVD, Thomas Nelson Publishing)
Please notice their stated purpose of making a new translation:
“To update… archaic verbs and pronouns”; and “...words whose English meaning
has changed over a period of 3 1/2 centuries.” (http://av1611.com/kjbp/articles/reynolds-nkjv.html)
Was that really a sincere and true statement? Or was that a false statement used to mislead people into buying the New King James Version? You need to check that out and see. Look at the following example:
Daniel 3:3, King James Version (KJV) — “Then the PRINCES, the governors…”
Daniel 3:3, New King James Version (NKJV) — “And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the SATRAPS, the administrators…”
The NKJV changes the word princes to satraps. Do you think that change made the Bible easier to understand for little Joe Moore — or harder? Most little children know what a prince is. Do most little children know what a satrap is? Do YOU know what a satrap is?
Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary defines “satrap” as a 14th century word
meaning governor or ruler. The KJV was published in 1611 (the 17th century).
The NKJV translators have taken a word which is commonly understood (princes),
and have changed it to a word which is rarely understood (satraps), which is a
word from the 1300’s (the 14th century). Remember the stated purpose of the translators?
To “UPDATE… words whose English meaning has changed over a period of 3 1/2 centuries.”
Is that what they did here? No, they did exactly the opposite. They took a
word that was three centuries OLDER and inserted it into the text.
This is just one example of how people have not taken the time to really check out what the NKJV translators have done.
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