Featured Real Reasons to use the KJV.

One the contrary! There is no need to distinguish between singular pronouns from plural pronouns in the manner that the KJV does it. That's precisely the reason that English speaking people don't use "Thee", "Thou", "Thine", etc. any longer. There are other, both grammatical and contextual, ways the information is communicated.

 

Thee, thou, thine, singular.

Ye, you, plural.

I suspect we don’t use the old words now because we are lazy. It’s easier to just say you or y’all. We have degenerated from women wearing nice dresses and men wearing nice suits in the 40s and the early 50s until now today we wear rags. Behavior and speech have degenerated commensurately. Reading what the Founding Fathers of this nation wrote you can tell they were highly educated in language.

 

It's because they aren't needed.

There are lots of thing about society that has degenerated both morally and practically but the use of thee and thou isn't one of them.

 

I don’t know what your problems are, but there is no need to be so RUDE.

Get it?

 

When you showed up, I thought it refreshing you were here. You managed in only two posts to change my mind. Do you alienate everyone so easily?

 

Ye and you are plural.

Thee, thou, thy, and thine are singular.

Some see no need. Personally, I find it informative and useful.

 

When you read Deu 8:1-3 who was being spoken to, a single person or a group? A group. But you can still use the singular to represent that group or you could use a plural to represent those in the group. So you could use "you " in the English and it would not make any difference. The person would still understand what the text was trying to convey. So based on those verses to say the KJV's use of thee, thou etc adds to understanding the text fails.

 

And you can't figure that out by reading a modern translation? You make it sound as if we should all be speaking in 16 or 17 hundreds English.

If five people got the wrong answer on a math test and I, as their teacher, say you missed a step and got it wrong. Am I speaking to the group or each student?

 

I can’t agree. Context shows a group is being spoken to, but the use of “thee” makes it personal to every last individual of the group.

It’s like the Ten Commandments. When God says “Thou shalt not…“ and “Thou shalt…”, it is singular though He refers to all Israel. It reinforces the fact that though He speaks to all Israel, He is at the same time emphasizing, “I’m talking to YOU, boy!”

 

And I am not telling you what you have to read. I am telling you it adds meaning to the text for me. If it doesn’t work for you, that’s between you and God. It does work for me, and I suspect for many others also.

 

And someone hearing or reading those texts in a modern translation would understand just that. The same as those Jews in the desert that heard them understood that they had a personal application.

Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. KJV
Exo 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. NASB
Exo 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me BSB
Exo 20:3 you shall have no other gods before me. NRSV
Exo 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. NKJV
Exo 20:3 "You must not have any other god but Me. NLT

Do you think anyone would not understand this command as being personal? Or what about this one? Exo 20:7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. Or this one: Exo 20:17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."

In the KJV we find "thou" 4617 times in 3262 verses. I read a number of those verses and there was no confusion in the modern translations. When we read the bible we do not read just one verse. We study the context and doing so removes any confusion one may have had.

I did the same with "thee" 3344 times in 2349 verses and got the same results. Context clears confusion.

 

Yes they are instances where it works fine in modern English. My point was that we can see that in the Old English too, because of context.

My further point is there are times where it doesn't work in the modern English. At those times, where context doesn't make it clear, the singular or plural does make it clear.

I repeat, if it doesn't work for you, that's fine. I'm telling you it is beneficial to me. For those reasons, I disagree with you.

 

For me the reasons are simple, I learned from the KJV and all the Bible tools I've acquired over the years are synched with the KJV. Although the ASV has become my primary Bible I don't see where the KJV has steered Christendom wrong in the past, so, I still use it in my research due primarily because that's what all my 'tools' originated from.

 

There may be times where in modern versions it is not as clear, granted. And for the record I am not disagreeing with your choice of bible. As you say it works for you. But reality is that for the vast majority of young people the 1769 KJV is not their bible of choice because of the language. That was the point I was trying to make.

A bible that is not read is just a paper weight.

 

I have numerous translations on my phone. My Blueletter Bible app lets me read my KJB and whatever other translation I choose side by side. That’s what I recommend to assist “young people”.

For doctrine I always take my KJB. I use several alternates to clarify or verify what I think the obscure word is.

For example, I was reading of the transfiguration, and the Lord’s clothing became whiter than “any fuller” could make them. I thought, “Must be a word that we would say use ‘bleach’ for”, and I was right. Also, sometimes word order is easier when I do the comparison.

And it takes me 14 keystrokes to bold a word if I’m not at my desktop!