<P> The NKJV translation project was conceived by Arthur Farstad . It was inaugurated in 1975 with two meetings (Nashville and Chicago) of 130 biblical scholars, pastors, and theologians . The men who were invited prepared the guidelines for the NKJV . </P> <P> The aim of its translators was to update the vocabulary and grammar of the King James Version, while preserving the classic style and literary beauty of the original 1611 KJV . The 130 translators believed in faithfulness to the original Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew texts including the Dead Sea Scrolls . Also agreed upon for most New King James Bibles were easier event descriptions, a history of each book, and added dictionary and updated concordance . </P> <P> According to the preface of the NKJV, the NKJV uses the 1967 / 1977 Stuttgart edition of the Biblia Hebraica for the Old Testament, with frequent comparisons made to the Ben Hayyim edition of the Mikraot Gedolot published by Bomberg in 1524--25, which was used for the King James Version . Both the Old Testament text of the NKJV and that of the KJV come from the ben Chayyim text . However, the 1967 / 1977 Stuttgart edition of the Biblia Hebraica used by the NKJV uses an earlier manuscript (the Leningrad Manuscript B19a) than that of the KJV . </P> <P> The New King James Version also uses the Textus Receptus ("Received Text") for the New Testament, just as the original King James Version had used . As explained in the preface, notes in the center column acknowledge variations from Novum Testamentum Graece (designated NU after Nestle - Aland and United Bible Societies) and the Majority Text (designated M). </P>

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