by Daniel Stanfield
The New King James Version (NKJV), by Thomas Nelson Publishers, was first published as only the New Testament in 1979, and as the whole Bible in 1982. As of 2025, there have been no revisions. This version of the Bible has been very successful and is still a popular version.
With the NKJV, the Publishers sought to modernize the Elizabethian text of the KJV while retaining a very close match to the established familiarity of the KJV wording, and also to utilize modern understanding of the original language manuscripts. It is not just an English-language modernization, but a new translation revision of the 1611 KJV.
The translation style for the NKJV is Literal, being based on the KJV (Oxford 1881 ed.), but gender translations are mixed, sometimes changing original gender 'man' to inclusive gender 'one', while still retaining masculine pronouns (examples include Matthew 16:24, Mark 4:23, Psalm 143.2). The Bible is generally King James-Friendly using the Textus Receptus as the primary text for the New Testament, but also consulting other Byzantine (Majority) text-type mss, and referencing Alexanderian (Critical Texts) as well. Examples of departure from KJV to Critical Texts are 1 Kings 20:38, where 'bandages' replace 'ashes' and Zephaniah 3:15, where 'disaster' replaces 'evil' - both of these changes being manuscript-based. For the Old Testament, the 1966/1977 Stuttgart Bible (CT) was used, with comparison to the Ben Chayyim Rabbinic Bible (the OT KJV source). The NKJV is not associated with any religious denomination.
The NKJV has no deleted passages compared to the KJV. Passages considered doubtful by CT are included, with translation notes indentifying doubtful content.
This Bible version came out at a time when the KJV was newly competing with modern translations like the RSV, the NIV, and the NASB, which were mistrusted by many KJV users, especially in light of Critical Text (CT) changes which omitted or published doubt regarding several NT passages. Regardless of the publisher's stated intent of revision, the version was popularly expected to be 'about the same' as the KJV except using modern language instead of Elizabethian language. The reality of a new translation effort changes many verses and the wording updates are inconsistent. The version was not truly modernized, nor does it conform closely to the KJV.
The Bible best serves readers who desire the familiar language of the KJV, who wants neither the Elizabethian text, nor the confusion of CT omissions, and who are content with minor variations.
Those of strict King James (only) association should avoid this version due to the broader manuscript base from which it was translated.