Which English Bible translation is closest in accuracy to the Greek scriptures ?
The King James is the poorest English translation still in common use, with more than 3,500 translational errors. The translators appointed by King James simply were not expert in the ancient languages, and it shows. Many of the errors are minor – wrong verb tense, wrong punctuation, etc. But others are major – like translating the Hebrew phrase for “horned beasts” as “unicorns” instead of the correct translation found in every other version of the Bible – “oxen”, or “cattle”. The most accurate English translation is the Douay-Rheims version, but it isn’t the easiest text to read, which is why not too many people other than biblical scholars use it. The New American and the Revised Standard are both very good, largely accurate translations for general reading.
