I met someone over skype who claimed that the newer translations (NIV, ESV, NASB, etc) took verses out of God's word and that the people who translated them are cursed because of revelation 22:18-19. Therefore he claims that only the KJV and earlier are the only bibles that haven't been corrupted. I feel like something is not right and I honestly feel bothered. Can you guys help me refute this claim?
It is very easy to show that the King James Version is "corrupted". Get a copy of the Jewish Publishing Society's
Jewish Study Bible, available from Oxford University Press. Its English-language translation of the Tanakh, like that of the King James Bible, is based on the medieval Masoretic Hebrew text. Start anywhere in the book and look for a footnote indicating "Meaning of Heb. uncertain". Usually you will find that even though the Hebrew is uncertain, the King James Version gives a definitive translation without any indication that there was ambiguity in the Hebrew. Sometimes the King James Version follows the Septuagint or Latin Vulgate, but often (usually?) does not.
As a simple example, consider Psalm 2:11-12 (which I chose at random). The JPS translation is
Serve the Lord in awe; tremble with fright, pay homage in good faith, lest He be angered, and your way be doomed in the mere flash of His anger.
where footnotes indicate that the Hebrew underlying the portion I have underlined is uncertain. The KJV translation is:
Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, And ye perish from the way, When his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
There is no footnote in the KJV to this particular verse indicating an alternate translation (as sometimes is provided). Interestingly, Jerome's Latin translation, which is based on a Hebrew text 400 years older than the Masoretic text, reads:
Servite Domino in timore, et exsultate ei cum tremore [and rejoice unto him with trembling]. Apprehendite disciplinam [Embrace discipline], nequando irascatur Dominus, et pereatis de via justa. Cum exarserit in brevi ira ejus, beati omnes qui confidunt in eo.
Jerome's translation tends to agree with the Greek Septuagint, which is based on a Hebrew Text almost 1,000 years older than the Masoretic Text:
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice in him with trembling. Accept correction, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and ye should perish from the righteous way: whensoever his wrath shall be suddenly kindled, blessed are all they that trust in him.
I think the above exercise could be repeated with just about any other translation whose Old Testament is based on the Masoretic Text, though some (e.g. RSV) do try to highlight alternate translations based on older Hebrew texts. There are perhaps over a thousand such verses in the Masoretic Text with uncertain Hebrew, rendered in the KJV (and probably other translations) as if there is no ambiguity in the underlying text.