Read this out loud:
1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.
2 He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
3 He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.
4 Even when I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
protect and comfort me.
5 You prepare a feast for me
in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings.
6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
forever.
Now read this out loud:
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Which reading “sounds” better? Both are renderings of Psalm 23. The first is taken from The New Living Translation, (copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation). The latter comes from the King James Version of the Bible.
Today, many translations of the Bible exist. Sadly, the purpose behind most of these translations is that of profit (not prophet). I could argue about the inferiority of modern translations based mostly on the source texts (mostly in the New Testament, but some in the Old) used in their translations, but I’ll lay that aside for now. One of the goals of the King James translators “was to produce a Bible that would ‘sing’ with beauty and power and would retain literal faithfulness to the Greek and Hebrew texts, which had themselves been written with majestic musical beauty” (Henry M. Moris, The Henry Morris Study Bible, p. 2152).
If this were my only reason for sticking with the KJV, it would be enough. It just “sounds” like Bible. However, the KJV is the only English translation (with the exception of perhaps the Geneva Bible) that was translated from the Textus Receptus – the “Received Texts,” aka, the “Majority Texts.” All other modern translations use the Westcott-Hort Greek texts which utilize old manuscripts that were rejected by early church fathers. There is much information available to the reader who really wants to investigate. For now, I will just leave it at that.
Ernie's Musings 