Here are my three favorite books—along with short blurbs for each book provided by Logos Bible Software—pushing back on the idea that the KJV is not just the best English Bible translation available, but the only trustworthy English translation. I commend them to you not as a means to squelch any further discussion or investigation into this matter, but as means to invite you into a broader discussion on this (at times) highly contentious debate. These three books have been the most helpful to me over the years and I hope they will be as helpful for you!
The King James Version Debate: A Plea for Realism - D. A. Carson
“The King James Version is superior to all modern English translations of the Bible”—so say many popular books and pamphlets. The King James Version Debate is the first book-length refutation of this point of view written for both pastors and laymen. The author concisely explains the science of textual criticism, since the main premise advanced by KJV proponents is the superiority of the Greek text on which it is based.
After showing the problems with this premise, the author refutes the common propositions that:
The KJV is the most accurate translation
It is the most durable
Its use of the Old English forms (e.g., “thou”) makes it the most reverent
It honors Christ more than do other versions
It is the most easily memorized
It is the most suitable for public reading
Concluding the book is an appendix in which, on a more technical level, the author answers W. N. Pickering’s The Identity of the New Testament Text, the most formidable defense of the priority of the Byzantine text yet published in our day.
Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible - Mark Ward
The King James Version has shaped the church, our worship, and our mother tongue for over 400 years. But what should we do with it today?
The KJV beautifully rendered the Scriptures into the language of turn-of-the-seventeenth-century England. Even today the King James is the most widely read Bible in the United States. The rich cadence of its Elizabethan English is recognized even by non-Christians. But English has changed a great deal over the last 400 years—and in subtle ways that very few modern readers will recognize. In Authorized Mark L. Ward, Jr. shows what exclusive readers of the KJV are missing as they read God’s word.
The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust the Modern Translations? - James White
Modern Bible translations still come under attack from some who read only the King James Version. James R. White traces the development of Bible translations old and new, investigating the differences between versions like the NIV, NASB, and NKJV and the Authorized Version of 1611. Written with the layperson in mind, The King James Only Controversy leads the reader through the basic issues of the debate and into the more complex issues of textual criticism.