I have read the Old Testament through twice in my life and the New Testament several times. Often it brings more questions to my mind than it answers. I was afraid I was going to become non-Christian if I continued, so I stopped. I still read passages and look things up, but I can't read it cover-to-cover any more. Most people are inspired, but I am not one of those. My wife has a chair that she sits in and reads every morning. It settles her mind. She sees things differently from me. I have the KJV on tape--not CD--but have only listened to a small part of it.
I listen to it for a while before I fall asleep, then my subconscious listens to it while I sleep. When I wake up during the night, I will listen to it before falling back asleep, and again in the morning. I am interested in seeing 1) how much of it I can absorb while asleep and 2) how it effects my dreams.
The other night after falling asleep listening to Ephesians in the New Testament I found myself in a dream doing some powerful spiritual warfare for my Nephew who is addicted to meth. I woke up knowing that I was dressed in the full armor of God during my dream and that God is moving in my Nephew's life.
So far, I have been through the entire Bible in the NKJV once, the NT in the KJV once, and as far as Leviticus in the KJV, although that version of the KJV was hard to understand since it was more like a computer reading it to me, so I stopped there, and went back to the earlier copy of the NKJV, in which I am somewhere in Numbers now. I have had several dreams that were in some way related to the Bible text, but nothing particularly dramatic. However, my sleeping mind is picking up enough of it that I feel far more familiar with the Bible text than I have been since Bible college. I don't know if this is related directly to my sleep coverage of the Bible, but I have become far less receptive to trash in movies. Movies whose level of disrespect for God wouldn't have kept me from watching them anyhow, only a month ago, are now more likely to sicken me, not physically but to the point where I have to decide that I am not wasting an hour and a half watching that trash. Probably, my nightly recitations of the Bible have simply put me in a better frame of mind.
You said, I think, you had finished listening to the new King James Version. How if I may asked does the NKJV differ from the plain King James Version. What bible tdo you keep in your study or your home?
Maybe you are "seeing" and "hearing" those movies through God's eyes and ears now Ken. Keep it up and you just may see that same disrespect for God in more than just the movies. I am still going to sleep listening to the Scriptures and waking up either listening some more or reading the Word and I am sometimes surprised to hear things I don't remember hearing before...even though I'm sure I must have. My thirst for the Word keeps increasing so even if I'm not having dreams...I must be absorbing what I'm hearing to the point that I can't wait to hear more of it when I wake up. I'm also experiencing the waking up of my senses to what is disrespectful to God during my days too.
The New King James Version uses the same source material as the King James Version, but in modern language, whereas many of the other translations will use different source material, so there are some verses that are in the KJV and the NKJV but not in the NIV or the NASB, etc. I have several translations and versions, and which I use will depend on what I want to do with it. I grew up with the KJV so I don't have much trouble with the archaic language, although I can understand why someone new to the Scripture might just give up when confronted with the KJV. I like the poetic language used in the KJV, as none of the modern versions seem to be able to retain the poetry. While doing Bible study, I like to have a couple of different translations. The Amplified version is good for that, although it would be maddening to use the Amplified Bible for regular reading. I know that it drives the KJV-only people nuts to hear this, but some of the other versions are based on manuscripts that are earlier than the ones used in the KJV, so a version like the New American Standard Bible might be more accurate. The differences are fairly negligible, for the most part. For regular reading, I love the New Century Version, but only the versions published before 1991, when they decided that it would be cool to make a gender-neutral version. My favorite all-purpose Bibles are the Holman Christian Standard Bible or the New American Standard Bible. I use the NASB most. I used to like the New International Version, as the early NIV was a good translation, but they decided that political correctness was more important than accuracy. So I'd go with the NASB or the HCSB, but if you're comfortable with the KJV and are pleased with it, I don't see any reason to make a change.
Of course, if you really want to have fun, you might try the Cotton Patch Gospel. A very nice guy that I know put the Cotton Patch Gospel of Matthew online.
@Babs Hunt and @Ken Anderson You both are mentioning versions I didn't know existed. Tank you. The last bible I owned was Schofield Reference Bible,KJV. It would no doubt be obsolete now. Thank you both.
I once had access to a Bible that had 4 translations on every page. I thought it was the Interpreter's Bible, but that seems to only have 2 translations. This is online, but my internet connection is too slow to use it. Perhaps those who have better speed would find it useful: https://www.biblestudytools.com/compare-translations/
Alexander Scourby is the man whose voice reads the KJV of the Bible on CD to me every night before I fall asleep...and most mornings too. He makes the Bible come alive for me even though I still can't say I dream about what I am falling asleep to. What I can say is that I am retaining more and more of what I am hearing and also remembering the order of the Books of the Bible as we go through them which all my life I've struggled with memorizing. I've also struggled with pronouncing a lot of the Old Testament names, etc. but Alexander Scourby is making these names come alive for me too. Before if I couldn't pronounce it...I basically just skipped over those names or words...but not anymore. Biblical history is becoming alive and more understandable to me than ever before...and the Old Testament has become a whole lot more interesting now too. Since Scourby is reading the KJV to me I have taken out my People's Parallel Edition which contains the KJV and the Living Bible side by side. When there is something I don't quite get in the KJV when I'm reading along with Scourby...I just check what the Living Bible says and things become clear to me. In the past I have enjoyed reading many parts of the Bible...now I'm finding I'm enjoying it all.
I have been through the Bible (NKJV) twice now, in its entirety, and the New Testament (KJV) another time, and am currently in Isaiah (NKJV) on my third run. While I haven't had any dramatic Bible-based dreams, many of my dreams are influenced by the Bible and it just puts me in a better frame of mind when I get up in the morning. Listening to it in my sleep, I think I can more easily become familiar with some of the Old Testament books that I would find boring if reading them.