Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. 6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
Because of the plethora of Bible translations and versions available today the believer and unconverted alike wonder what Bible they should use. Most do not even understand why there should be an objection to the “new” Bibles and so pick whichever they favor for whatever reason. For some people they choose the one that they feel they can understand the most easily, others choose the one they are more comfortable with because it does not openly rebuke their sins by name, and still others choose the one which they dislike the most because they want an excuse to reject the Bible entirely. This is madness.
The Bible is a book (a collection of books bound into one volume actually) and it was written in the ancient languages of Hebrew and Greek. These languages are old, but well understood. The translation of the Biblical text is not difficult by any learned man who is honest. And therein lies the rub. The blatant dishonesty of the modern translators proves that the new Bibles are not to be trusted. The Bible tells us that the word of God is pure. The new Bibles are not and so they are obviously not the word of God. How do we know they are not pure? The answer is simple and was given in the context of the verse which said the word of God is pure. The Bible says that the pure word of God will not have anything added to it.
When translating a text it is often necessary to add words to make the meaning clear. That is because sometimes one word in one language has no exact equivalent in another or its meaning may be affected by the context to such a degree that a fuller explanation of the meaning of the word has to be translated also and still more explanation may be needed for the reader to understand that alternative words could have been also used in the translation for a more literal or else less literal translation.
The Bible then can not be translated word for word, but nearly so and because honest men will not mishandle the word of God we should expect an honest translation to be as literal as possible. This means Bible translations and versions which are merely paraphrased translations like the Amplified Bible and Good News for Modern Man should be rejected outright.
A conservative literal translation must always be preferred over a liberal paraphrased translation as a paraphrased translation deviates more from the actual meaning of the words to the greatest degree possible giving the most liberty to the translator as any method could.
But since a word for word translation is not possible in every part of the Bible since there are places where words must be added for clarity we should expect a system to show us where they were added. Marginal notes should be clearly separate from the textual body, but also any added words within the body should be specially marked somehow. And no Bible on the market does this except the King James Bible.
In the original printing the marginal notes providing alternative translations of words were clearly divided from the text and the words which were added into the text for clarity were set in a different font. The original font being a fancy calligraphic German Gothic font for the bulk of the text and a plain Roman font for things like chapter outlines and the added words.
In modern printings the entire text is in Roman font as that font is more common in our society and easier to read and spaces well and the added words are in italics. (Many new readers of the Bible at first think that italics in the Bible are for emphasis since sometimes that is how italics are used in other publications, but these are the added words which were necessary for clarity.)
Now because we have a Bible available to us today which was honestly translated and well marked so that any clarifying added words and alternative translations are distinguished from the original text we have a Bible we can be assured was translated by honest men and so we have no other reason to use any other. The King James Bible of 1611 is the only honest translation on the market and this is curious since that system which the printers used has been well known for at least four hundred years. This tells us the new Bibles are made by dishonest men who do not want you to know what words they added because they added words which were untrue as they are liars. This means the New International Version, the New King James Version, the American Standard Version, the New World Translation, et al., are not to be used. We have the pure word of God in English. It is the King James Bible.
Deuteronomy 4:1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.
2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Deuteronomy 12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Revelation 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
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