V. The New King James Version
(1982)
A. It's hard to believe that the New" King
James Version is now over 15 years old! This revision project
sponsored by Thomas Nelson Publishers involved 119
scholars, seven years of labor, and 4.5 million dollars. Thomas Nelson made many
extravagant claims about the new version, stating that it was the "first major revision of the classic Bible in more than 200
years" and that its production was "the most
important event in Bible publishing since the original King James was released
in 1611." In 1984 Nelson launched an advertising campaign costing
1.6 million dollars which described the NKJV as The
Accurate One.
B. All scholars who participated in the project signed a document which stated that they believed in the complete, verbal (plenary) inspiration of the original autographs of the Bible. Their stated aim was to update the readability and accuracy of the KJV to reflect modern scholarship and English usage. "Where obsolescence and other reading difficulties exist," they stated, "present-day vocabulary, punctuation, and grammar have been carefUlly integrated." In preparing the Old Testament text these scholars consulted most of the manuscripts which have become available since the original KJV was printed. They also considered the Dead Sea Scrolls in their work. Their New Testament work, however, relies primarily on the TEXTUS RECEPTUS, which Erasmus originally translated from the Vulgate in 1516. This is the same text which the original KJV relied on. The NKJV claims to retain "every verse of the original translation" (1611 ). Interestingly, most other recent translations follow a New Testament text other than the TEXTUS RECEPTUS.
C. Strengths. The NKJV is a good, readable translation. Because it remains one of the top five selling translations in America, it is available in a variety of page and print sizes and in various bindings. Several study Bibles and children's editions utilize this version. It does a fine job of updating the vocabulary and usages of the original KJV. (See Acts 12:4; Rom. 12:8; John 4:34; Joshua 10:10; Acts 20:29, and I Ki.11:1.) Many who enjoy the beauty and poetry of the original KJV, and yet who struggle with some of the archaic language, find the NKJV to be an excellent alternative. It is one of the most recent translations completed by a sizable group of translators who still believed in the complete inspiration of Scripture.
D. Weaknesses: One criticism of the NKJV is that it is a curious mixture of the old and the new, retaining archaic expressions in one place, while substituting current vocabulary in another. In Matthew 1:23, for example, the virgin shall be "with child," but in Matt. 24:19 the women are "pregnant." In some places the Greek word porneia is translated "fornication" (Gal. 5:19), and in other places it is rendered "sexually immoral" (I Cor. 5:9-10). In some cases, the NKJV mysteriously fails to update the vocabulary. For example "offscouring" is maintained in I Cor. 4: 13 and "winebibber" is kept in Matt. 11:19. From a scholarly standpoint, some wonder why the NKJV translators consulted most of the manuscripts which have become available since the KJV in their Old Testament work but relied primarily on the RECEIVED TEXT for the New Testament