The NKJV is a true revision of the KJV in the same way that the KJV is a true revision of the Bishops' Bible and other pre-1611 English Bibles.
Try "The Newest King James
New World Translation", since they agree with The New World Translation in places where you'd never know The King James ever existed, as was the NKJV's partially undisclosed ulterior motive, i.e., to be a
'Transition Translation', between the KJV and The New World Order 'bible' versions, like whatever you would call the New World Order version (an 'Occult Manual', maybe). You know that.
"Pastor
Kirk DiVietro of Franklin Massachusetts, sent an email to
David Cloud of Way of Life Ministries in January of 2005 that reveals the hidden agenda behind the publication of the New King James Version.
David Cloud prefaced
Kirk DiVietro's letter with the following statement:
"Kirk DiVietro, Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Franklin, Massachusetts, attended one of the Thomas Nelson planning meetings that prepared the way for the publication of the New King James. He testified to me that the
Thomas Nelson representative plainly stated that their goal with the
NKJV was to create a bridge to the modern versions, to break down the resistance of those who still revere the
KJV. Following is Bro. DiVietro’s testimony as he gave it to me by e-mail on January 9, 2005:
“Over 20 years ago I attended a pre-publication meeting of the
NKJV held by the Thomas Nelson People and hosted by the Hackman’s Bible Bookstore in Allentown, PA. I am personal friends with the owners who took great delight in seating me next to the brother of the main translator of the
NIV. The meeting was attended by over 300 college professors and pastors.
"At the meeting we were treated to a slide presentation of the history of the English bible and in particular the King James Bible and its several revisions. During the presentation of the
NKJV the
Thomas Nelson representative made a statement which to the best of my memory was,
‘We are all educated people here. We would never say this to our people, but we all know that the King James Version
is a poor translation based on poor texts. But every attempt to give your people a better Bible has failed.
"They just won’t accept them. So we have gone back and done a revision of the King James Version, a fifth revision.
"Hopefully it will serve as a transitional bridge to eventually get your people to accept a more accurate Bible.’"
"Because of the years, and because I did not write it down, I cannot give you the speaker’s name and I cannot promise you that this is word for word correct, but the meeting so seared my spirit that I have never picked up and opened a
NKJV. I can tell you that this is absolutely the substance and nearly the exact words of what was said.”
"The accuracy of Pastor
Kirk DiVietro's recollection regarding the
Thomas Nelson representative's statement, "We would never say this to our people, but we all know that the King James Version is a poor translation based on poor texts" is confirmed by the New King James Version editors: It was the editors' conviction that the use of footnotes would encourage further inquiry by readers. They also recognized that it was easier for the average reader to delete something he or she felt was not properly a part of the text than to insert a word or phrase which had been left out by the revisers."
"Since these manuscripts, most of which - for the
New Testament - reflect an
Alexandrian text-type, are argued by most of today's biblical scholars to be more reliable, the
NKJV's adherence to the
Majority Text (which has ties to the
Textus Receptus) is accused of violating the spirit of open scholarship and open inquiry, and to ascribe a level of perfection to the documents available to the 17th century scholars that they would not have claimed for them.
"However, not all textual critics agree that the earliest manuscripts are the most accurate. Alternative readings based on other texts do appear as footnotes in the New King James Version, and unlike other translations (such as the New International Version), the NKJV does not contain value comments like "the best manuscripts add, etc." Instead, the footnotes simply state which manuscript sets do not contain the passage (similar to the approach previously taken by the New World Translation) of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
"However, this is unlikely to placate those who feel that the "
Johannine Comma" (at
1 John 5:7), for example, is not a legitimate portion of scripture and should not be treated as such.
"The NKJV holds to a loose stance for the Textus Receptus and Masoretic Text, but incorporates other c-----t manuscripts in its footnotes and follows c-----t definitions from other versions, which in doing so, reveals their belief that the KJV is in error in 1000’s of places.
"The Hebrew Text that the NKJV is translated from is slightly different from the Masoretic text used by the KJV. The KJV is primarily translated from the Bomberg edition (1524-25) of the Masoretic text prepared by Jacob ben Chayyim. The NKJV uses the 1967/77 Stuttgart edition of the Biblia Hebraica, with frequent comparisons made with the Bomberg edition of 1525. In addition the NKJV consulted, the
LXX or Septuagint Greek Old Testament, the Latin Vulgate a variety of ancient versions of the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls (NKJV preface, p.vi).
...
From:
©2000 by James M. Frye;
"Of all the "Bibles" that are readily available today, there is only one that comes from the Textus Receptus
and is translated according to the Formal Equivalency method - the Authorized Version (KJV).
"The New King James Version (NKJV), although it claims to be a "Formal Equivalent" translation, contains many (over 2000) instances of "Dynamic Equivalency". In the preface, (the NKJV) claims to be essentially the same as The Authorized King James Version (KJV) except that the language has been updated. Instead, it has thousands of changes that have nothing to do with updating the language at all. Where the language is updated, it is often updated incorrectly or in ways that change the entire meaning of a passage."
