And we think the KJV is hard to read...

[Shane Gaydon]

Check out the spelling that was used in the 1587 Geneva Bible. The spelling in the 1611 KJV was very similar to this. The KJV we have today is a 1769 edition that has updated the spelling. It's hard to believe how much the english language has evolved over the years.

Joh 3:11 Verely, verely I say vnto thee, wee speake that we know, and testifie that we haue seene: but yee receiue not our witnesse.
Joh 3:12 If when I tel you earthly things, ye beleeue not, howe should yee beleeue, if I shall tel you of heauenly things?
Joh 3:13 For no man ascendeth vp to heauen, but he that hath descended from heauen, that Sonne of man which is in heauen.
Joh 3:14 And as Moses lift vp the serpent in the wildernesse, so must that Sonne of man be lift vp,
Joh 3:15 That whosoeuer beleeueth in him, shoulde not perish, but haue eternall life.
Joh 3:16 For God so loued the worlde, that hee hath giuen his onely begotten Sonne, that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Sonne into the world, that he should condemne the world, but that the world through him might be saued.
Joh 3:18 Hee that beleeueth in him, is not condemned: but hee that beleeueth not, is condemned already, because he hath not beleeued in the Name of that onely begotten Sonne of God.
Joh 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that that light came into the worlde, and men loued darknesse rather then that light, because their deedes were euill.
Joh 3:20 For euery man that euill doeth, hateth the light, neither commeth to light, least his deedes should be reprooued.

[pitbull]

That is also why there was times after 1611 that the KJV Bible was updated to reflect the changes/evolution of the English language. Nothing was done to change the content or the text, just the grammatical adjustments. And I hear the argument constantly that the KJV Bible is difficult to understand or read.

It is true that there are archaic words used in the King James Version [e.g. thee, thou, ye], but these are not difficult to decipher with a good dictionary and some common sense. Excluding proper nouns, over 90% of the words in the King James Version are only one or two syllable in length. This makes it easier to read than the USA Today newspaper and most grade school books. Studies [even with computers] have been done that confirm this. God has preserved us a copy of the Bible so that it would be able to be understood by everyone, despite educational background. The difficulty that most people have is in pronouncing the names of people and places. These names will not change even if the archaic words were updated.

Alexander W. McClure in The Translators Revived noted, "It was well remarked by Robertson, above a hundred years ago, that it [the King James Bible] may serve as a Lexicon of the Hebrew language, as well as for a translation" (The Translators Revived: A Biographical Memoir of the Authors of the English Version of the Holy Bible, New York: Board of Publications of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, 1855, p. 239). What is a lexicon? It is basically a dictionary that tells what the Greek or Hebrew words mean in the English language. This is telling us that KJV is a literal translation to help us understand the original meaning of the words so that we would not have to learn Greek or Hebrew.

Without even getting in to the manuscript discussion again, the NKJV was supposed to make the KJV easier to read. The NKJV is very inconsistent in it's attempt to update the language of the KJV. The preface to the NKJV states that previous "revisions" of the KJV have "sought to keep abreast of changes in English speech", and also that they too are taking a "further step toward this objective". However, when taking a closer look at the language of the NKJV, we find that oftentimes they are stepping BACKWARDS! Please note a few examples of how well the NKJV has "kept abreast of the changes in the English language":
SCRIPTURE KJV NKJV
Ezra 31:4 little rivers rivulets
Psalms 43:1 Judge Vindicate
Psalms 139:23 thoughts anxieties
Isaiah 28:1 fat verdant
Amos 5:21 smell savor
Matthew 26:7 box flask
Luke 8:31 the deep the abyss
John 10:41 did performed
Luke 19:11-27 pounds minas
John 19:9 judgement hall Praetorium
Acts 1:18 bowels entrails
Acts 18:12 deputy proconsul
Acts 21:38 uproar insurrection
Acts 27:30 boat skiff
Hebrews 12:8 bastard illegitimate

If people still have problems reading the KJV Bible, there is another solution. The Defined King James Bible has a built in dictionary to allow people to better understand archaic or words that are no longer common in our language without having to deal with any textual issues. Here is a site that talks a little about it: www.pilkingtonandsons.com/definedKJV.htm