[graemep]

KJV is beautiful and out of copyright so free to download (except technically in the UK where the original monopoly is in force) but not a great translation in terms of accuracy compared to more modern ones.

It also, of course, only contains the protestant canon.

There are more free translations. Not knowledgeable enough to recommend one. Mostly there is no significant difference, but of course there are passages and translations which are contested.

There are Bible apps which will let you install multiple translations and read them side by side. That plus a paper Bible (a good translation such as NRSV) goes a long way.

[cogman10]

I grew up on the KJV, but it really is a bad translation. It injects a lot into the text and has bad sources vs modern translations.

The new king james translation is better. As is NIV.

If you are really up for studying the bible, then you can't do much better than getting the Oxford annotated bible (which is based on the NRSV). That has all the footnotes pointing out translation choices and giving historic context to passages based on the current best biblical research.

[cap11235]

Favorite part of NRSV is when you get slap fights in the footnotes.