My Journey Through Bible Translations

John Stapleton Podcast

I started reading the Bible when I was 6 years old. My mother studied the Bible copiously and would often prefer using the KJV with a Strong’s Concordance. For secondary translations, she had lined up the NIV and the Amplified Bible. She later gave me her NIV and that was my first real Bible, a big step up from the picture Bible.

I remembered various stories from the picture Bible and now that I have a real Bible, I was on the hunt for all the stories and all the verses my mother would often quote. I read the Passion accounts from all four gospels and then various other stories from the gospels and pieces from the book of Proverbs.

A few years later, I was at a community summer camp program where they gave out NLT Bibles. That was refreshing as it was smoother to read and understand. The NLT was the first Bible I read Genesis through Revelation.

A few more years later I’m a middle schooler. The church I was attending used the NIV for adults and the ESV for student ministry. It was around that time I was introduced to Reformed Theology and ESV fit right in that circle of that kind of Bible teaching. I realized why a formal translation that is modern is very valuable. The ESV quickly became a cherished favorite as it was an alternative to the KJV and NKJV that I considered more unpolished at the time, but was still familiar sounding to the verses I grew up hearing. It is a unique translation because it is an essential literal, modern translation, from the Alexandrian texts that the majority of scholars consider the oldest. I also appreciate that it doesn’t capitalize divine pronouns like the NKJV and NASB. I continued using the ESV for the next 15 years.

I got married in 2018 and my wife and I moved to Joliet and joined a church that used the NIV in every ministry. I kept using the ESV but as time moved on, I got more involved and decided it would be easier to adapt back to the NIV. Lots of controversy surrounds the NIV so I decided to do my research. I acquired a fresh appreciation for the NIV as it is the mediating translation on the spectrum of English versions. Because it is not too formal or dynamic, it meets a perfect marriage for many Evangelical Christians around the world, hence to term “international.”

Though I appreciate the NIV, it's never been my favorite. I don’t prefer a mediating translation. I tried the CSB for a couple of months but left it because it is ideal if you want something less formal than the ESV and more literal than the NIV. I see more value in a translation that leads more formal or more dynamic. For a while, the ESV and NLT met this need for me. I also realized that in many places, the NASB and NKJV are more literal than the ESV. Strangely, the ESV feels like the NIV in some renderings.

This brings me to the KJV. I never thought I would ever grow to love the KJV, especially since I dismissed all the KJV-only rhetoric. After spending over a decade in the ESV (the great-grandchild of the KJV), I noticed that I love the more exalted language of the Bible. Some words and phrases grow from the King James Tyndale Tradition that have endured the test of time and find themselves in all the formal translations and even some in the NIV, though the NIV was the first translation to deliberately move away from sounding like the KJV, less traditional and more conversational.

As of 2024, I can safely say I’ve returned to the translation my mother used, the first translation of my childhood. Frankly, many still read the KJV because they grew up with it. Whenever something “sounds like the Bible,” they are talking about the King James Version. Here are 11 reasons why I’ve chosen the KJV as my primary reading, studying, and memorizing Bible:

1. It is not constantly updated.

2. Old English distinguishes between ‘you’ singular and plural.

3. Gives more place to the deity of Christ and the trinity (1 John 5:7).

4. The Old Testament consistently translates from Hebrew instead of LXX.

5. Beautiful and brief lyrical style.

6. Essentially literal translation.

7. Enduring language that influenced later translations.

8. Great for apologetics to cults (since most are KJV-only).

9. It is a translation that is not influenced by the post-modern world and political correctness.

10. Some argue very well that the textual basis can be traced closer to the time of the apostles than the manuscripts in Alexandria. (I’m still not convinced they are the oldest manuscripts, but I’m still curious to learn more.)

11. A lot of church history quotes from the KJV.

I am not KJV-only. I still find a lot of value in all the translations I’ve mentioned. I choose to start with a translation that all the others find their lineage from. When something is unclear because it is old or its a formal translation, I seek out resources, including other translations to see what it means. The NKJV is a close companion as well. I know some word choices are unnecessarily changed from the KJV in some places, but most of the text is nearly identical to the KJV, making the NKJV the only mainstream translation that reflects the KJV closest in Modern English.

On this channel, my default translation will be the KJV or the NKJV at times. I will still quote from various translations. The ESV still holds a place in my heart as I’ve memorized it for 15 years. The NIV and NLT are still helpful for their conversational, natural language renderings.

God bless and I’ll see you next time.