Why Memorize From the King James Version?Why memorize from the King James Version? Why not memorize out of one of the newer, more modern versions? I will attempt to answer this question as simply and concisely as possible. First, out of all the 120+ versions to have been translated since the KJV, the KJV is the easiest version to memorize out of. The translators of the KJV deliberately tried to produce a Bible that would “sing” with beauty and power, but also retain literal faithfulness to the Greek and Hebrew texts. This they did quite successfully. This was the age of Shakespeare, when the English language was at its height in beauty and expressiveness.1 The KJV translators capitalized on this, and frequently employed the use of poetic rhythms in the construction of its sentences. For examples of this, click here: poetic rhythms in the King James Version. 
The King James Version uses mostly one and two syllable words, and has been consistently rated in formal studies at a 10th grade reading level, and even lower. Some places I found even rated it at a 5th grade reading level. The style of English used should not deter this generation, who are well versed in such strange languages as Java, perl, lisp, and python.Actually, the difference in the English aids in memory work. The verses you memorize will not get jumbled up in your mind with last week’s Walmart ads from the paper. The beauty of the King James English sets it apart in your mind as something special. While we are on this point, I will mention that the King James Version translators did not even employ the English of that day in their translation. The “ye” (plural) and “thou” (singular) and “thee” (singular) of the King James Version were used to distinguish between singular and plural forms of the second person, because the Greek and Hebrew does the same. Tyndale, when he was making his English translation, deliberately revived words that had passed out of common usage in order to precisely convey the meaning of the Greek text. Our modern English does not make this plural/singular distinction. Thus, the King James translators employed the same translation technique that Tyndale did.2 The accuracy of the translation...The second reason it is important to memorize out of the King James Version is because of the accuracy of the text.It is impossible to translate any language into another word for word, because the difference in sentence structure would make it unintelligible. However, the King James Version translators sought to preserve the structure of the Greek and Hebrew whenever they could. Also, they strove to maintain unity in rendering the words from Greek and Hebrew into English as closely as they could. For this reason, it is possible to do word studies with the King James Version to find out the definition of a word as used in its context. It is not possible to do this with many of the modern versions, which used a technique called “dynamic equivalence” in their translations. “Dynamic equivalence” means that the thoughts were translated according to what the translator thought the original writer was really saying. 
For example, consider the passage from Romans 6-8. In the King James Version, the word flesh in this passage is taken from a simple Greek word, sarx. This word is used 143 times, and is always translated in the King James Version as flesh.3 It is possible to find out what Paul meant by flesh in this passage by examining the use of the word every other time it appears in our King James Version English Bible. When we do this, we find out that flesh means flesh. Flesh is the body. You can see, feel, and touch the flesh.Now consider the New International Version. In the passage of Romans 6-8, every time the Greek word sarx appeared in the Greek text, the translators translated it sinful nature, even though they translated that same Greek word sarx as flesh in other parts of the Bible. They arbitrarily decided to translate according to their doctrine, not according to what the Greek text says. “Sinful nature” is a nebulous concept that you cannot see, feel, and touch. To use that term in the place of “flesh” in this passage causes major confusion and inaccuracy of words as well as thoughts. Conclusion...
If you are interested in learning more about why I use the King James Version in writing my music, an excellent resource is a book entitled Which Version is the Bible? written by Floyd Nolen Jones, from which I have taken some of the information in this brief summary. You can download a pdf version of the book for free from this web page:
Download Which Version is the Bible? Ultimately, my faith is not in a version of the Bible, but in a risen and living Savior who has taken my sins and borne them in His own body on the tree so that now, I am dead to sin, and alive unto righteousness (see I Peter 2:24). I am confident that the King James Version is the most accurate, and the easiest English version to memorize out of. After putting 26 of it's chapters to music, I am amazed at the orderliness with which it's thought structure is laid out. That is why all of the Scripture songs that I write will take their text from the King James Version. Click here to hear samples of
King James Version Scripture songs.
Footnotes: 1A Creationist’s Defense of the King James Bible, Dr. Henry M. Morris. This is a simple and eloquent essay. Worth the read: http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=home&action=resources&page=resources_tracts_kjv 2Which Version is the Bible? Floyd Nolen Jones, Th.D., Ph.D. KingsWord Press, 1999. Pages 78-79. 3Romans 1-8 Verse by Verse. Michael Pearl. No Greater Joy, 2001. Page 216. This is an excellent commentary on Romans. Highly recommended. 4Which Version is the Bible? Page 49.
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