Isaiah 9:3 and the KJV

Isaiah 9:3 in the Authorized or King James Version: 

Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

In the New King James Version:

You have multiplied the nation 
And increased its joy;[i]
They rejoice before You 
According to the joy of harvest, 
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

[For further comparison, the RV and ASV]:

Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased their joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

Notice the differences in these translations. The Masoretic consonantal text (Ketiv) has the particle לֹא (loʾ, “not”); the margin (Kere) of it has לוֹ (lo, “him” “it”). The NKJV translators and/or editors chose to put the marginal reading in the text, the opposite choice of that made by the King James translators.

This is one of the cases where the NKJV editors violated their stated goal of producing a new King James that might be easily read or listened to while following with the King James (or vice versa). “A special feature of the New King James Version is its conformity to the thought flow of the 1611 Bible. The reader discovers that the sequence and selection of words, phrases, and clauses of the new edition, while much clearer, are so close to the traditional that there is remarkable ease in listening to the reading of either edition while following with the other.” (From the “Preface” of The New King James Version.) It is jarring rather than easy to be reading one translation here while listening to the other being read. I found it so the first time I heard it read, creating a meaning in the NKJV opposite to what I saw in my KJV.

The NKJV, like the KJV, could have also kept the other reading (“to him”) in the footnote or margin – but it did not, choosing to match most modern translations rather than matching the KJV. This created a reading that is just opposite the KJV. Of modern Bibles, I found it interesting that the Lexham English Bible follows the KJV here, against almost every other modern English translation I know of, including the NKJV.

You have made the nation numerous; you have not made the joy great.[ii] They rejoice in your presence as with joy at the harvest, as they rejoice when they divide plunder.

A “new” King James should have also followed that option to live up to what it claims to be. Some have ameliorated the NKJV translators by arguing that this is a difficult decision. The default position of a “new” King James Bible that could be read alongside the King James Bible should have been to simply follow the KJV in “difficult” places. Or, put another way, a goal of creating a new King James Bible to which a King James user could easily transition should have been to only update language but otherwise ratify the choice of the King James translators in difficult places – rather than change the very meaning of the King James translation.[iii]  That’s another translation, not a “new” King James Bible.

Here again, the NKJV does not live up to what it claims to be.

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[i] The NKJV footnote reads: Isaiah 9:3 So with Qr., Tg.; Kt., Vg. not increased joy; LXX Most of the people You brought down in Your joy
[ii] The LEB footnote reads: Isaiah 9:3 The written text (Kethib) is “not,” but the reading tradition (Qere) is “for it”
[iii] If in the strength and trust of their own learning these translators could not do so, they should have bowed out of the project.