I read the King James (KJV) and the New International Version (NIV) at the same time (which might explain why it took nearly two years to finish), and this is not a review of the content so much as a review of the two translations.

KJV is beautiful, and there is a reason it has been considered the standard English version for 4 centuries. But it is also 4 centuries old, which makes some of the language at times difficult to completely understand for modern readers.

NIV was first published in 1978, translated from original sources into modern English. There were many times during this reading project when I read the KJV chapter, and then read the same NIV chapter and revised my understanding of what was being said. If I were ever to read the bible from cover to cover again (unlikely), I would probably go with the NIV.

Nutshell: read the KJV for the poetry and the literary history, read the NIV for understanding. ( )