1. Modern Literal (Word-for-Word) Translation

Here's another essay for one of my theology classes.

The New King James Version (NKJV) of 1982 is just one example a Modern Literal, or word-for-word, translation, also known as a complete equivalence version. Other Modern Literal translations include the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the English Standard Version (ESV), the Revised Standard Version (RSV), and the King James Version (KJV). Word-for-word translations attempt to stick as close as possible to the original language by keeping as many exact words and phrases as the translators can manage. These Bible types hope to maintain flow of ideas and not lose any historical accuracy.

In 1975 the Thomas Nelson Publishers group commissioned Arthur Farstad, a conservative Baptist, to make a good translation of the Bible better by creating the New King James Version. More than 130 scholars wanted to improve and preserve the original King James Version of 1611, and although most of the original diction remains, a lot of the syntax has been modernized. For example the obsolete verb endings of “eth” have been removed, and the “thee’s” and “thou’s” have changed to “you’s” and “yours.”  Also, many of the original transliterations, or English spellings of untranslatable words, have stayed the same as the King James Version.  When following along to a reading out of the King James Version, listeners can easily keep track of the word flow with minimal confusion.

Michael Marlowe, the creator of bible-researcher.com, compares and contrasts the New King James Version to the New American Standard Bible. Although the New King James Version is not as literal as the New American Standard Version, it has conserved the literary style of the first King James Version. The New American Standard Version, though more literal, also contains more paraphrases than the New King James Version. Also, the New King James Version has better sustained the Hebraisms (Hebrew idioms, expressions, and cultural characteristics) of the original texts. Rather than original manuscripts, the New King James Version followed the Textus Receptus, which is based on the Byzantine Texts. This means that in order to compensate for the lack of use of critically edited texts readers must make sure to check margins to have more accurate or literal translations of some words.

Finally, the New King James Version would clearly add great value to any Bible student’s pool of resources. This translation improves upon an already great translation that holds true to the original version and texts, but provides more ease of reading without losing any phraseology or historicity.