Yes, you can read the King James Version, but it’s not what we’d recommend.
The KJV has beautiful language. If you grew up Baptist or Church of Christ here in Southeast Texas, you probably have one on your shelf with your grandmother’s handwriting in the margins. There’s nothing wrong with reading it. But it’s missing something important for Orthodox Christians: the complete Old Testament.
The Septuagint Problem
The Orthodox Church uses the Septuagint for the Old Testament. That’s the ancient Greek translation made about 250 years before Christ, the version Jesus and the Apostles actually quoted. It contains books like Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, and the Maccabees. The KJV was translated from the Hebrew Masoretic text instead, which is a later Jewish compilation that excludes these books. Some old KJV editions included them in a separate section called the Apocrypha, but most modern printings leave them out entirely.
We don’t consider these “extra” books. They’re just the Bible. When you hear readings in Divine Liturgy, they’ll often come from these texts. If you’re only reading the KJV, you’re missing ten books of Scripture that the Church has used for two thousand years.
What We Use Instead
The Orthodox Study Bible is what most Antiochian parishes recommend. It uses the New King James Version for the New Testament (which updates the language of the KJV while keeping the same basic text) and a Septuagint-based translation for the Old Testament. More importantly, it includes notes and commentary written from an Orthodox perspective. That matters when you’re coming from a Protestant background where the study notes in your old Bible assumed things about salvation and the Church that we don’t believe.
You’ll also hear people mention the RSV or NRSV. These are solid translations that include the deuterocanonical books, though their study notes aren’t specifically Orthodox.
The KJV’s other issue is just practical. “Thee” and “thou” and “verily” made sense in 1611. They don’t now. If you’re trying to understand Paul’s letters for the first time, archaic English makes it harder than it needs to be. The NKJV fixes this while keeping the dignity of the language.
For Reading at Home
Look, if you want to read the KJV for the New Testament, go ahead. It’s a faithful translation of that portion. Many Orthodox Christians have used it over the centuries. But you’ll want something else for the full Old Testament, and you’ll want the Orthodox Study Bible for understanding how the Church reads Scripture. We don’t interpret the Bible the way your cousin’s Baptist study Bible does. We don’t read it looking for prophecies about the Rapture or proof texts for once-saved-always-saved. We read it as the Church has always read it, which means you need Orthodox guidance.
If you’re a catechumen preparing for baptism, get the Orthodox Study Bible. Fr. Jack can point you to where you can order one, or Ancient Faith Publishing sells them online. It’ll serve you better than trying to piece together different translations. And when you hear a reading in church from Sirach or 2 Maccabees, you’ll actually be able to find it when you get home.
