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Mormon Church Loosens Grip on the KJV Bible

 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has clarified its position on Bible translations. In its official statement, “Holy Bible Translations and Editions Used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” the Church explains that it values multiple Bible translations because they help people understand scripture “in the language they know best” . 



The statement affirms that the King James Version (KJV) remains the preferred English Bible for Church use, while also acknowledging that some readers benefit from more modern language. That group includes youth, new converts, and people learning English.

The recommended English Bible translations are as follows:


Concerns about KJV comprehension have existed for decades. Yet only now does the handbook clearly frame Bible use around reading level and understanding. The update formalizes what many families were already doing. 

The challenge is easy to identify. The KJV was translated in 1611. Its English no longer matches modern speech or reading patterns. Words like thee, thou, shew, and hath are unfamiliar to many modern readers. For younger readers or those who have learned English as a Second Language (ESL), scripture study can turn into language decoding rather than engagement with ideas.

A recent peer-reviewed academic study gives formal backing to concerns many modern ESL readers already voice. In “Text Mining Analysis of the King James Version and the New International Version: Concerns and Implications for ESL Readers,” researchers used computational text-mining methods to compare the language of the King James Version (KJV) with the New International Version (NIV). 

The study measured linguistic features such as formality, sentence structure, and word usage. The focus was especially on how these features affect comprehension for modern readers, especially on ESL learners.

The findings were clear. The KJV consistently scored as  more formal and linguistically complex than the NIV. It used older vocabulary, less common grammatical constructions, and sentence patterns that are less aligned with contemporary English. The NIV, by contrast, showed features associated with greater readability and accessibility. The authors concluded that these differences have real implications for comprehension, especially for readers who do not have strong exposure to archaic English. While the study did not argue against the theological value of the KJV, it demonstrated that its language places a heavier cognitive load on modern readers, reinforcing the idea that difficulty with the KJV is not about effort or faith, but about measurable linguistic distance.

While this study was primarily focused on ESL readers, we could easily see the same concerns applied to youth in the church. For example, a teenager reading Isaiah in the KJV may recognize every word on the page and still miss the meaning of the passage. 

While this is certainly a welcome update that helps ensure youth in the Church can better understand doctrine, the Church will likely never be able to fully step away from using the King James Bible as its official version.




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