2 Chronicles
1:16 KJB - "And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and LINEN YARN: the king's merchants received the LINEN YARN at a price." NKJV - "Solomon had horses imported from Egypt AND KEVEH, the king's merchants bought them IN KEVEH at the current price."
2:13 KJB - "And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram MY FATHER'S." RV, ASV, Young's, Geneva etc. = KJB. NKJV - "edowed with understanding, Huram my MASTER CRAFTSMAN." NKJV Footnote: literally 'father'.
An apparent contradiction that is in fact a contradiction in the NKJV, NIV and NASB.
One of the proofs of the true Holy Bible, which in English is the King James Bible of 1611, is that it contains no proveable errors. The modern bible versions all contain numerous real and not just apparent contradictions. A case in point is the differences between 1 Kings 7:26 and 2 Chronicles 4:5 where both sections speak of the molten sea constructed by king Solomon that stood upon twelve oxen. How much water did this molten sea actually contain?
In 1 Kings 7:26 we read: "And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: IT CONTAINED TWO THOUSAND BATHS." However in 2 Chronicles 4:5 we read: "And the thickness of it was an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and IT RECEIVED AND HELD THREE THOUSAND BATHS."
This obviously looks, at first glance, like a contradiction. The NKJV, NIV and NASB all read slightly differently and it is this critical difference that in fact creates a very real rather than an apparent contradiction. The NKJV in 2 Chronicles 4:5 reads: "It CONTAINED THREE thousand baths." yet in 1 Kings 7:26 the NKJV, NIV and NASB all say: "It contained TWO thousand baths."
The solution is really quite easy once you look closely at the correct reading found in the KJB. Not only does the KJB read the way it does but so also do both Jewish translations of the Jewish Publication Society of America and the Hebrew Pub. Company of 1917 and 1936, Young's translation, Green's interlinear, the Revised Version of 1881 and the ASV of 1901.
There are two verbs found in the Hebrew in 2 Chronicles and only one verb in 1 Kings. The NKJV,NIV, NASB, Darby, Geneva Bible, RSV, NEB and NRSV are all wrong and create a real contradiction by not translating the second verb found in 2 Chronicles 4:5. One verb is RECEIVED # 2388 and the second verb is HELD # 3557 three thousand baths.
1 Kings 7:26 tells us that the molten sea actually contained 2,000 baths of water, while the 2 Chronicles passage tells us that it could receive and hold 3,000 baths but it only contained 2,000 - thus is was only filled to two-thirds of its capacity. It is like saying "This gas tank holds 25 gallons; it contains 15 gallons of gas now."
There is no real contradiction in the KJB, but a very definite contradiction in the NKJV, NIV and NASB because they did not translate that second Hebrew verb. These versions are false witnesses to the truth. This is only one of many such examples that prove them to be false bibles. "A faithful witness will not lie; but a false witness will utter lies." Proverbs 14:5
9:21 KJB - "For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of HURAM: every three years once came the ships OF TARSHISH bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and PEACOCKS."
NKJV - "For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of HIRAM (footnote: literally Huram). Once every three years the MERCHANT SHIPS (footnote: literally ships of Tarshish), came, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and MONKEYS." PEACOCKS is the reading of the NASB, RV, ASV, 1917, 1936 Jewish translations, Geneva Bible, Young's, Darby, RSV, NRSV, ESV and Spanish versions. The NKJV says 'monkeys' while the NIV goes with Baboons! Now, biology is not my area of expertise, but I'm pretty sure there is a difference between a peacock and a monkey.
10:10 KJB - "My little finger shall be thicker than my father's LOINS." Loins is not an archaic word. In fact the NKJV and NIV frequently use the word loins, which means the upper and lower abdominal area and the region about the hips. Loins is the reading of the NASB, RV, and ASV, RSV, and NRSV here. But the NKJV has joined the NIV and translated this word here as WAIST, and in other places where the KJB correctly has loins, the NKJV changes this to hips Neh. 4:18; backs Ps.66:11; herself Pro. 31:17; yourself Jer. 1:17; heart Eze. 21:6; bodies Eze.44:18, and flanks Nahum 2:10. So much for the accuracy of the NKJV and the false claim that they are just updating the "archaic" language.
10:11 KJB - "but I will chastize you with SCORPIONS". Scorpions is even the reading of the NASB, NIV, but the NKJV says: " I will chastize you with SCOURGES", then in a footnote tells us: literally Scorpions.
13:14 KJB - "And when Judah looked back, BEHOLD, the battle was before and behind."
This word Behold is used very often in the Bible to draw our attention to something. The RV, ASV, NASB translate it just as it stands in the KJB as either Behold or Lo. The NIV tells us in their concordance that they have not translated this word 550 times of the 1,061 times it occurs in the Old Testament. The NKJV has frequently translated this word as Behold, but very often it completely paraphrases it as "to their surprise" 13:14; "here" 16:3; "note that" 16:11; "now listen" 18:12. "take notice" 19:11; omits in 20:2; "here are" 20:10; "surely" 20:16; "there were" 20:24; "look" 28:9; and "indeed" in 20:34. These are just a few of the examples, yet they correctly render the same word as Behold in many other places. Are the NKJV translators really aiming at greater accuracy, or are they just making changes so they can get a copyright and make royalties?
15: 15-17 There are literally hundreds of annoying changes made in the NKJV. Here is just a small sampling. "sought him with their whole DESIRE" becomes "SOUL", "she had made AN IDOL IN A GROVE" becomes "AN OBSCENE IMAGE OF ASHERAH", "the heart of Asa was PERFECT all his days" becomes "heart of Asa was LOYAL".
24:27 KJB - "Now concerning his sons, and THE GREATNESS OF THE BURDENS LAID UPON HIM, and the repairing of the house of God..." This is the reading of the RV, ASV, Young's, Darby, Jewish translations of 1917 and 1936. It most likely refers to the great diseases with which God afflicted him and the heavy taxes and tribute exacted by the Syrians whom God sent against Israel. However the NKJV alters this to: "Now concerning his sons, and THE MANY ORACLES ABOUT HIM, and the repairing of the house..."
26:12 KJB - "The whole number of the chief of THE FATHERS" becomes in the NKJV "the number of the chief OFFICERS" with a footnote telling us that literally it is "the fathers".
32:3 KJB - "He took counsel with his princes and his MIGHTY MEN" which becomes "COMMANDERS" in the NKJV with another footnote telling us that literally it is "mighty men", just as it stands in the KJB.
32:21 KJB - "THEY THAT CAME FORTH OF HIS OWN BOWELS slew him there with the sword." This is the literal rendering of the Hebrew and also the reading of the Jewish translations of 1917, 1936, the RV, Young's, Geneva, World English Bible, Hebrew Names Version, Darby, Douay, and the ASV. However the NKJV says: "SOME OF HIS OWN OFFSPRING struck him down with the sword there." Now God knows how to say "offspring" and "children" and "sons". There are distinct Hebrew words to express these ideas, but He didn't say that here. God said "they that came forth of his own bowels", so why not just keep it that way?
32:30 KJB - "This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and BROUGHT IT STRAIGHT DOWN to the west side of the city..." The NKJV says: "and brought THE WATER BY TUNNEL to the west..." again with a footnote: literally "brought it straight".
33:11 KJB - "Wherefore the LORD brought upon them captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh AMONG THE THORNS, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon." The word is clearly 'thorns' or thistles and, as John Gill remarks, Manasseh was trying to hide himself, and the thorns were spiritually significant as a picture of the due curse for his sin. In 1 Samuel 13:6 the Israelites previously had hid themselves in the caves, and in thickets, and in rocks and pits.
Yet here the NKJV says: he "took Manasseh with HOOKS, bound him with bronze fetters...", while the NIV says he "put a hook in his nose". Young's says Manasseh was taken "among the thickets".
33:6 The NKJV has the annoying habit of frequently changing the wording of whole verses. Here the sins of Manasseh are all changed. "also he observed times" becomes "he practiced soothsaying", "and used enchantments" becomes "used witchcraft", "and dealt with a familiar spirit" becomes "and consulted mediums" and "with wizards" becomes in the NKJV "and spiritists". Likewise in 34:4 the KJB's "images" and "groves" become "incense altars" and "wooden images" in the NKJV.
33:19 KJB - "BEHOLD, they are written among the sayings of THE SEERS". This is the reading of the Jewish translations, Geneva, NIV, RSV, NRSV, ESV, BBE, Green's interlinear and the Spanish. Yet the NKJV along with the NASB says: "INDEED, they are written among the sayings OF HOZNAI", with another misleading footnote that says the Septuagint reads "the seers" as though the KJB is again falsely following the Greek and not the Hebrew.
34:8 KJB - "when he had purged the land, and the HOUSE..." the NKJV says "and the TEMPLE" with a footnote saying literally "house" as in the KJB.
36:10 KJB - "and made Zedekiah, HIS BROTHER king over Judah and Jerusalem." His brother is the reading of the Jewish translations, RV, ASV, Young's, Geneva, Spanish, Darby and others, but the NKJV says: "JEHOIAKIM'S brother" with a footnote that says: literally "his brother". The NASB has "his kinsman" while the NIV goes with "Jehoiachin's uncle" none of which is in any Hebrew manuscript.
I hope this little comparative study allows you to see that the NKJV has changed far more than just a few "archaic" words found in the King James Bible.
Will Kinney