What is the difference between the King James Bible (KJV) and the New King James Bible (NKJV)?
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Asked December 01 2013
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cody bitner
For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Charles Garner
One noticeable difference in the KJV. & the NKJV. is that God's name was
Completely removed! When I first started to search through the scriptures, Strings Concordance was very helpful to find words (every-word) used in the King James Version (KJV). When I found Jehovah at PS.83:18 , I looked at reference in Hebrew section #3068. Later on the word LORD (all capitals) was also at #3068. Then I noticed in every place LORD appeared the word should have been Jehovah according to the Hebrew word in the original scriptures!
Finding God,s name was so wonderful, it made God personal, my loving heavenly father. By taking out God's name, it would be hard to follow Jesus exhortation at John 17:3 to use and bless his name. When Jesus went to the synagogue after being tempted by Satan, he was handed the scroll of Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1) and read "The spirit of the lord Jehovah is upon me..." since we know Jesus had no fear of men, and God's name Jehovah was on that scroll, why has Jehovah's name been removed in the NKJV. Completely.
Colin Wong
The KJV and NKJV did not delete the name of God. When it translated from Hebrew to English, it uses the word LORD (all upper caps) to denote the Tetragrammaton YHWH, יְהוִה, pronounced Yahweh by some, and Jehovah by others. This is explained in the notes of the KJV and NKJV on how it translated the Hebrew ancient scriptures.
Charles Garner
When looking at the word LORD, it connotes a person of high station, of power which is what is meant when lord is used in most places in scripture and elsewhere. However the tetra gram, four letters, in Hebrew were God's name!
LORD is a title or statement of one's place, whereas Jehovah is the name the almighty god has chosen (Ex.6:3), according to Strong's Concordance. Why have translations stopped using God's name? I can not say, but Knowing his name as Jesus implores us at John 17:3 is so very satisfying. It was a great pleasure to share what was shone to me.
Colin Wong
Jews were forbidden to say or write the Tetragrammaton in full. So the KJV/NKJV and many other Bible translations today respect this tradition by using the word LORD to denote the YHWH. It's really not a conspiracy. I do understand your preference for Jehovah. Nothing wrong with that. Just clarifying why it's not written that way in many Bible translations.