We are all kilted sinners! Oh no!! :-)

[OC Richard]

Many people still quote the King James Bible (or Authorised Version) because it is what they grew up with... it has been around for so long... it is very similar to Shakespearean language...its meaning is very close to that of the original Hebrew...it is more familiar to most English-speakers than any particular modern translation.

I think it's more than just being around a long time. Nobody remembers the Cloverdale/Tyndale, Taverner, Cranmer (Great Bible), Geneva, or Bishop's bible which came out in the years leading up to the King James.

It's because the committee that wrote the King James (yes it's one of the few good things to be created by committee) put a huge emphasis on the poetry of the language. It was meant to sound good read out loud. The committee considered a number of translations for each passage and chose the one that sounded the best.

Our modern translations all sound to me like they're written by scholars, not poets. They're very accurate to the original Greek (NT), much more accurate than the King James, because we have older manuscripts to work from today, and better scholarship to understand them. But when I read them they sound wooden and stiff (at best) and clumsy and unidiomatic (at worst). Some modern translations have a bizarre mix of modern slang and formal language.

Off topic I know! But interesting stuff to me at least.

On topic: I work with a guy who might be the poster child for narrowminded judgemental Christians, and when I told him about this thread, even HE thought this kiltwearing-sinful-guy is an idiot. (As a former Marine he views the kilt as a warlike garment, not an effeminate one.)