One of the issues facing Christians who study the Bible is getting the most accurate translation. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, while the New Testament was written in Greek. The "perfect" version of the Bible, then, would only contain those two languages, and we would have had to learn them.
At one time, Latin was the language of scholars. That required a translation of the Bible into Latin. As Britain became a world power, and a center of learning, English versions of the Bible were needed.
The King James Version (1611) was not the first translation of the Bible. It was the first attempt to codify and standardize the Bible. It was a major undertaking. Ask 47 scholars to study Hebrew texts, Greek Texts, and the available translations of that time (at least 7), and come up with a non-biased version of the Bible. They did the best they could, given the technology of 1611.
Today, over 50 translations of the Bible exist.
Why were they created?
On one hand, each translation is an honest attempt to amplify and bring more clarity to the Word of God. Many people living today are not trained in Hebrew or Greek or Latin (with repsect to language, history or culture), and thus many lessons can be lost. Many people become confused with the "thees and thous" and "-eths". Many sentences in the KJV require patience to read (since the sentence construction is detailed and the United States has done a poor job educating its people in proper use of grammar). Many sentences in the KJV are gender-biased (Romans 16:1 refers to Phoebe as a helper, deaconness, or deacon depending on your translation. The Greek word is diakonos, which Paul uses when he says a deacon must be the husband of but one wife).
As our technology grows, we have able to excavate ruins and find ancient manuscripts that can supplement and explain the original text.
On the other hand, some translations were created to hide the full story from the believer, and create dependence on the clergy. If you are unable to understand the Bible in language it is written, you must listen to the preacher, teacher, or priest to hear their interpretation.
