A DEADLY TRANSLATION
THE “NEW” KJV
Some portions below taken from James L. Melton & M. H. Reynolds articles
dealing with the New King James Bible.
The New King James Bible was first published in 1979. It is a deadly version because its editors have succeeded in deceiving the body of Christ on two main points:
(1) That it’s a King James Bible (which is a lie), and
(2) That it’s based on the Textus Receptus (which is only a partial truth).
It is essential to know that many of the word changes between the original KJV and the NKJV are not changes which result from removing archaisms, etc. Instead, many are changes which clearly reveal that, contrary to their agreed basis, the NKJV translators departed from the original KJV and its underlying Greek text, the Textus Receptus, in favor of the very same wording found in versions translated from corrupted Greek texts.
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There’s nothing “new” about the NKJV logo. It is a “666” symbol of the pagan trinity which was used in the ancient Egyptian mysteries. It was also used by Satanist Aleister Crowley around the turn of this century. The symbol can be seen on the New King James Bible, on certain rock albums (like Led Zepplin’s), or you can see it on the cover of such New Age books as The Aquarian Conspiracy.
Riplinger states that this same tri-part symbol is found concealed in the tail of the Green Dragon, illustrated in Harry E. Wedeck’s occult classic volume, Treasury of Witchcraft.
Moreover, it is similar to the logo of the immense Krupp Works, the German manufacturing giant that was one of the most important producers for Adolf Hitler’s Nazi war machine.
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While passing off as being true to the Textus Receptus, the NKJV IGNORES the Receptus over 1,200 times.
IN THE “NEW KJV,” THERE ARE
22 omissions of “hell”,
23 omissions of “blood”,
44 omissions of “repent”,
50 omissions of “heaven”,
51 omissions of “God”,
66 omissions of “Lord”.
The term “JEHOVAH” is completely omitted.
The NKJV makes a very serious doctrinal error when dealing with the word “JEHOVAH” in Exodus 6:3. They change the word “JEHOVAH” to “LORD” thus making the Bible to contradict itself. Even the corrupt “New World Translation” (Jehovah’s Witnesses Bible) has a better rendering of this passage.
So what does Exodus 6:3 say? Please read carefully – “And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.” (KJV)
Now please note what the NKJV says – “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I was not known to them.” (NKJV)
If you will take a concordance and go back to Genesis 1 and go through to Exodus 6:3 you will notice that the word “LORD” is mentioned 242 times.
Did anyone before Exodus know God by the name of “LORD” before Exodus 6:3. The answer is a resounding, YES! Don’t just sit there, look it up for yourself.
Adam & Eve knew – Genesis 4:1
Enos knew – Genesis 4: 26
Noah knew – Genesis 8: 20
Shem knew – Genesis 9:26
Nimrod knew – Genesis 10:9
Abraham knew – Genesis 12:7-8
King of Sodom knew – Genesis 14:22
Sarah knew – Genesis 16:2; 18:14
Hagar knew – Genesis 16:11
Lot knew – Genesis 19:14
Abimelech knew – Genesis 20:4
Eliezor knew – Genesis 24:3-12
Rebekah knew – Genesis 24:18
Laban and Bethuel knew – Genesis 24:50
Isaac knew – Genesis 25:21
Abimelech, Ahuzzath, & Phichol knew – Genesis 26:28
Jacob knew – Genesis 27:20
Leah knew – Genesis 29:32
Rachel knew – Genesis 30:24
Laban knew – Genesis 30:27
Joseph knew – Genesis 39:2-3
Pharaoh knew – Exodus 3:18
Moses & Aaron knew – Exodus 5:1
So to eliminate the word “JEHOVAH” is not only poor scholarship but also perverts and damages the text making it contradictory. It is a key passage that shows God as He reveals Himself BY ANOTHER NAME to mankind. Someone on the translation committee evidently does not like the name, “JEHOVAH.”
The term “NEW TESTAMENT”, is completely omitted.
It is interesting to note that Hebrews 9:15-20 in the NKJV lines up with the New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses Bible).
DOCTRINAL PROBLEMS
DEALING WITH SALVATION
The NKJV confuses people about salvation. In Hebrews 10:14 it replaces “are sanctified” with “ARE BEING SANCTIFIED”, and it replaces “are saved” with “ARE BEING SAVED.”
In I Corinthians 1:18 and II Corinthians 2:15. The words “may believe” have been replaced with “MAY CONTINUE TO BELIEVE” in I John 5:13.
The old straight and “narrow” way of Matthew 7:14 has become the “DIFFICULT” way in the NKJV.
In II Corinthians 10:5 the KJV reads “casting down imaginations”, but the NKJV reads “CASTING DOWN ARGUMENTS”. The word “thought”, which occurs later in the verse, matches “imaginations”, not “arguments”. This change weakens the verse.
The KJV tells us to reject a “heretick” after the second admonition in Titus 3:10. The NKJV tells us to reject a ” DIVISIVE MAN”. How nice! Now the Alexandrians and Ecumenicals have justification for rejecting anyone they wish to label as “divisive men”.
According to the NKJV, no one would stoop so low as to “corrupt” God’s word. No, they just “PEDDLE” it (II Cor. 2:17). The reading matches the Alexandrian versions.
The KJV correctly says, “For we are not as many, which corrupt the Word of God …. “But the NKJV, NASV, NIV and RSV, change “corrupt” to “peddling.” Is there any great difference between peddling (selling, or making a gain of) the Word of God and corrupting (adulterating) it? Of course there is, and one does not have to be a Greek scholar to decide which word is correct. When this warning was given in the 1st Century, was there any way for people to peddle (make a gain of) God’s Word? Of course not — they were suffering for it. The warning clearly refers to corrupting God’s Word, something that was common then as it is now. Only in our day has it ever been possible to peddle (make a gain of) the Bible. With its huge profits from the sale of many different Bible versions, the Thomas Nelson Publishers is both corrupting and peddling God’s Word.
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The NKJV gives us no command to “study” God’s word in II Timothy 2:15.
2 TIMOTHY 2:15
KJV reads, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God.” NKJV and NASV change “study” to “be diligent.” NIV and RSV change “study” to “DO YOUR BEST.”
MATTHEW 7:14
KJV – “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life…”
NKJV – “Because narrow is the gate and DIFFICULT is the way which leads to life,”
Is the way unto eternal life difficult? No, that is false teaching. The way unto eternal life is “strait,” as the KJV says, meaning “constricted, restricted, distressed, narrow, restrained.”
MATTHEW 20:20
KJV – “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him…”
NKJV – “Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, KNEELING DOWN…”
This is a wicked change. To kneel is obviously not the same as worship. “Worship” was in Tyndale’s translation of 1526. It was in the Matthew’s Bible of 1537. It was the Geneva of 1537. It was in the Authorized Version of 1611. Even the English Revised version of 1881 and the American Standard Version of 1901 retained the word “worship.” It was the modernistic Revised Standard Version of 1952 which changed to “kneeling.” Now the NKJV editors follow this same wicked error.
1 CORINTHIANS 1:18
KJV – “… but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
NKJV – “… but to us who are BEING SAVED it is the power of God…”
This unnecessary change corrupts the doctrine of salvation and conforms to the heretics who teach that salvation is a process.
ACTS 8:9
KJV reads, “bewitched the people.” NKJV and NASV change “bewitched” to “ASTONISHED.” NIV and RSV change “bewitched” to “amazed.”
COLOSSIANS 3:2
KJV reads, “Set your affection on things above.” NKJV, NASV, NIV and RSV change “affection” to “MIND.”
HEBREWS 3:16
KJV – “For some, when they had heard did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.”
NKJV – “For who having heard rebelled? Indeed, WAS IT NOT ALL who came out of Egypt led by Moses?”
The NKJV make this verse to say something directly contrary to the KJV and to the Old Testament. The Bible plainly says that not all of the Israelites rebelled against God, but the NKJV creates a contradiction.
The NKJV also lines up with the (NWT) Jehovah’s Witness Perversion in dealing with the above.
HEBREWS 10:14
KJV – “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”
NKJV – “For by one offering He has perfected forever, those WHO ARE BEING sanctified.”
This unnecessary change in the NKJV conforms to heretical gospels, such as that taught by Rome, which claim that salvation is a sacramental process. The NKJV completely destroys the beauty and power of this verse, that through the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ the believer is perfected and sanctified forever. This verse properly translated, as in the KJV, defeats false views of salvation. The NKJV, on the other hand, creates confusion. If Christ’s offering gives eternal perfection, as the first half of the verse claims, why does the rest of the verse say that we are BEING saved? It is confusion and error.
And we know that God is not the Author of confusion. (1 Cor. 14:33)
ISAIAH 11:3
The entire phrase, “And shall make Him of quick understanding” in the KJV is eliminated in the NKJV, NWT, NASV, NIV and RSV.
ISAIAH 66:5
The wonderful phrase, “But He shall appear to your joy” in the KJV disappears without explanation from NKJV, NASV, NIV and RSV.
DANIEL 3:25
The fourth person who was in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, was identified as “the Son of God.” The same identification is given in the text of the NKJV but a footnote reads “or, a son of the gods,” and both NIV and NASV actually have the latter reading in their texts.
In four different places in 1 and 2 Kings, “sodomites” is changed to “perverted persons.” The NKJV does not deserve its respected name. It is a perverted version.
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Duplicity is revealed in the preface of the NKJV and in a 16-page history of the KJV printed at the end. On page vi of the preface, NKJV readers are given the following erroneous information: “There is only one basic New Testament used by Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox, by conservatives and liberals.” This is simply not true! There are two basic New Testament texts — the Divinely preserved Textus Receptus from which the original KJV was translated and the satanically corrupted Westcott-Hort Text (and its revisions) which form the basis of all other modern Bible versions.
Dr. Arthur Farstad, chairman of the NKJV Executive Review Committee which had the responsibility of final text approval, stated that this committee was about equally divided as to which was the better Greek New Testament text — the Textus Receptus or the Westcott-Hort. Apparently none of them believed that either text was the Divinely preserved Word of God. Yet, all of them participated in a project to “protect and preserve the purity and accuracy” of the original KJV based on the TR. Is not this duplicity of the worst kind, coming from supposedly evangelical scholars?
Some will argue that the changes noted do not affect any fundamental Bible doctrine. We strongly disagree. Is not the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures a fundamental doctrine? Is not every word of the Bible important? Jesus Christ said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). He also said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:35). Since Christ is concerned about every word, we should also be concerned about every word and raise a voice of protest whenever scholarly sleight of hand is discovered in any modern version, including the NKJV.
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Many today are purchasing NKJV Bibles
for three reasons:
- Many pastors and Christian leaders are highly recommending it.
- They have been assured by translators and publishers that the NKJV is based upon the same Hebrew and Greek texts used by the KJV translators. However, as already mentioned, such a claim is simply not true and can be easily documented by comparing the wording of the NKJV with the NIV, NASV, RSV and other versions whose translators admittedly used other Hebrew and Greek texts.
- The NKJV is supposedly easier to read and understand but its impurities actually make it doubly deceptive and dangerous.
The New King James Bible is a Counterfeit