New King James Version
The New King James Version (NKJV) offers an acceptable alternative for those who seek a more readable Bible without forsaking the traditional acceptance of the King James Version.
The NKJV is an attempt at updating the language while preserving the literary structure of the KJV. It is not a new translation, but a new and improved version of the old.
The KJV itself has never been fixed. The KJV in use today differs greatly from the one that was originally published in 1611. The KJV of today differs markedly in content, size, typography, spelling, punctuation, and, to a lesser extent, in vocabulary. In addition to the 66 books generally accepted by Protestants, the 1611 version of the KJV included to Apocrypha.
In 1975 an international group of 130 scholars began work on the New King James Version, which was to be a revision, using the KJV as a base, and not a new translation of the Bible. The NT was completed in 1979, the OT in 1982.
The task of updating the English of the KJV involved significant changes in word order, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. One of the most significant features of the NKJV was its abandonment of the second personal pronouns "thou," "ye," "thy," and "thine." Verbal endings and verb forms were also modernized in the NKJV.
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