Well, from what I know the best English versions for the United States are the New American Bible and New Revised Standard Version with Deuterocanonicals. They are somewhat similar, but the NRSV is used more for scholarship purposes for those that cannot read the ancient original languages of the Bible.

I really think the KJV is archaic no matter what some Baptists say. It is very out of date and to me it makes the Bible feel so distant. It’s not written in my language so how am I supposed to connect with it? There is no English version protected by God as some would like to say and if there were I doubt it would be the KJV. Why would God want to send us something so useless? All the thou’s and ye’s are confusing.