Is the King Jame1 Bible the closest thing to the Hebrew written Old Testament?

I don't think most scholars would agree.

I think the knowledge of ancient manuscripts has greatly increased since the days of the King James Bible, and I think there are more reliable translations today. I have been a Bible student for over 30 years, and have found several versions I believe are more accurate. The NASB and ESV are two popular versions today that I believe are based on better manuscript evidence in the New Testament and the Old.

Compare for yourself........

http://www.biblegateway.com/

That does not sound accurate - just from the language used in the claim. Ask him what evidence he has proving that the King James Version is "closer" to the Hebrew Old Testament than the New American Standard Bible. Then - if he somehow has evidence for that - ask him what evidence he has proving that the King James Version is "closer" to the Hebrew Old Testament than the New Jerusalem Bible. You get the idea. There are 2 obvious logical problems with his claim

1) How do you measure "closer" objectively?

2) If he has not evaluated the "closeness" of every English bible in print, how can he know that other English bibles are not "closer"?

If those don't wake you up to the unreasonable nature of his claim, there is this: what are his credentials as a scholar of biblical Hebrew and biblical Aramaic?

Jim, http://www.bibleselector.com/

Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew. New Testament originally written in Greek. Bible scholars, especially in the last century or so, have shown that the King James version is pretty well riddled with mistranslations in both testaments. Given the more recent source material discoveries in the second half of the 20th century, the general rule of thumb would be that the more recent a translation is, if from an unbiased scholarly source, the more likely that translation is to be accurate.

If you know your Biblical Hebrew and have studied also Biblical Aramaic--you would have been excited when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. The Hebrew Bible of 23 books minus Esther (she didn't have to be in a gezerah because the Creator's name was not mentioned in formal form for burial).

Both Philo and Josephus of the First Cent. common era both mention the competed and closed Hebrew Bible which never had an anointed Jew become king of any spiritual world on earth. Even Philo said there was no hope of any real King like Solomon and David until the Romans could be defeated like the Philistines were by David (that is why there are no Philistines around today even though Rome named Judah Palestine after the immoral and sexual deviants & archenemy of monotheism). Even with Philo's attempt at teaching Jews caught in the line of fire as slaves, permanent soldiers and in occupations that kept them from the various synagogues around the empire, the only complete Hebrew Bible used for prayer was in in scrolls, as the are today. For teaching, the Great Assembly and the great prophet Ezra had the Bible published in Aramaic for those still forced to live outside of the holy land.

Thus, the 3500 year old Dead Sea Scroll Bible found by the Muslims and Roman Catholics in

47, is the SAME as the Hebrew Bible USED TODAY by Jews around the globe. No additions, no subtractions, no duality of a Creator as in Zoroastrianism, or judgement of a hell for 3 days as found in Egyptian religion with the virgin Isis and her god-son Horus (known as Isa or Isha--which later became Jesus as also did Krishna (read his history, miracle and titles) and also as a reincarnate of Buddha (read his history, miracles [like walking on water, meeting woman at well, healing lepers, etc.] and titles) that followed the stories of Jesus bar Abbas into a various duals with jinns or devils that gave slaves a heaven to look forward too which doesn't exist in any bodily form (neither is there a physical permanent "hell" in Hebrew). ... so if you know the Hebrew, the verb is singular, and as human we have a Godly soul like the angels (in proper light, He/She used their spirituality formulation to create Adam and Eve and also added the earthly animal soul that gave or gives us free will and free choice to be free on our terms. While many children have played house, doctor, teacher, cowboy or railroad engineer, seems only adults play "God" to suit their own definition of Her Holy Spirit we know as our Godly soul--read the ArtScroll edition (2 vol. set of Genesis) to appreciate the true meaning of the Holy Language and how each word, character even size of it, reflects our lives even today. For a great translation see Stone Edition or on line, go to Chabad.org for a Hebrew Edition with Rashi Commentary --- but between the Stone and ArtScroll, you will get a truer connection to over the 70 levels of wisdom among the passages and be able to see the moral lessons told inbetween the lines but are there from the white light on black of the original.

King James Bible came from a Greek Edition of the Jerome Latin Vulgate, written by a monk that knew little Greek. Even today, the churches have shown how so many errors were made with the Vulgate and since then. See the latest Codexes found, (on line too), Codex Tchacos--which conians also the First Apocalypse of James, and a fragment of the Book of Allogenes (The Stranger) now considered the oldest surviving book on Christianity to date.

Yes but you can refer to the Hebrew to get a deeper understanding. For example, God is called "Elohim" in Hebrew. Words ending in "im" in Hebrew are plural. This supports the trinity revealed in the New Testament.

Deut 6:4

4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

(KJV)

Here the Hebrew word for one is "echad" which means compound unity. It is the same word used when God told Adam and Eve they would become "one" flesh. In English we can say the team was united as one and we get that meaning but to see "one" Lord in a verse we don't get that meaning without studying the Hebrew. The KJV is the only good translation in English. God has blessed this version with great sweeping revivals. I would encourage you to read the KJV and if you have time get a good Bible study help to guide you. Most of all get into a good Bible preaching & teaching church. Every new translation is always compared to the KJV because that is the Bible, the pure word of God!

All bibles are pretty consistent with the original hebrew texts, the only difference is with the king james bible is he(king james) used the language of his time by adding archaic words like , thou, thee, art,

the kjv is translated from quality alexandrian mss compared to other translations from egyptian mss.

that is y other translations fare poorly.

Seriously? The KJV is a horrible translation. They deleted stuff, added stuff, and changed stuff. Just examine the Lord’s Prayer!

The king James version of the bible is the most corrupted version.

No. It has numerous translation errors.