Hi Zcaz,
I use a number of tools in my studies to help me understand the Word. When I meet someone who is interested in knowing more about Christianity, I have in the past bought the NIV translation and given it to a number of people as a gift. I buy that one because it is written in modern English and it has some decent commentaries. It is a good enough work to get a new Christian weaned on the 'milk' of the Word. However, you are right, there are some glaring omissions in that work and it is not a Bible that I personally use.
I use the KJV most regularly in my studies (not the 1611 version). I also use the Green's Interlinear Bible and the Moffat Bible. I use the KJV because I find it closer in translation to the Textus Receptus. I also use it because it does have errors and some terrible mistranslations. Here are a couple of examples:
Psalm 22:21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the UNICORNS. (KJV)
As you know the unicorn is a mythical animal. The word rendered UNICORNS in the English means in actuality a wild bull in the Hebrew language.
Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. (KJV)
This is how the verse should read:
Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, close up the words, and seal the book, until the time of the end: many shall turn aside, and wickedness shall be increased.
Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek are fixed languages. In English we may have ten words to describe something, where in coloquial Greek, there may be only one or two words.
When it comes to controversial passages or passages that I am unsure of, I employ the Massorah. The Massorah are a series of corrections to let the reader of the ancient scrolls know what word, or words were to be employed in any given passage, in order to lock in the correct meaning of the text and hence protect it from alteration. Some believe that the Massorah was created in the 10th century AD. I do not. If you read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah closely, you wil find that after the return of Jews to Judah from their captivity in Bablyon, Ezra did a census on how many leviticul priests there were, and there were none; they were still back in Babylon. The priesthood had been taken over by nethemims, those given to service. So instead of leviticul priests doing the work, those who gathered wood and lit fires were acting as priests. Therefore, in order to protect the text of the scrolls, the Massorah was created. You can read of it in Neh 8:8 and Ezra 7:6,11.
Dr. Christian Ginsburg did an exhausting work back in the 19th century called the Massorah. He was a Polish Jew that converted to Christianity and he spent thirty years of his life going to museums and synagogues, copying all of the Massorotic footnotes and he painstakingly cross-referenced them all and published it in a four volume set, which frankly, is one of the greatest works in the English language. You could probably find it in any good public or university library and the only copy of it I have seen for sale was over $7500.00. Here is the essay on the Massorah which you should read first; it's about 90 pages long:
The following is volume 4 of the Massorah. It's quite a read, over 500 pages long. You will need an Adobe reader to view it.
http://www.teachittome.com/seforim2/sef ... orah_6.pdf
The original KJV had a letter from the priests and scribes that King James employed that has never been reprinted, when it really should have been. The letter, written to King James and the readers, states and I'll paraphrase, that they did their best to interpret the ancient languages but they may have made some mistakes (which they did). So here's a copy of that letter if you want to read it.
http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/pref1611.htm
I also use a Strong's Concordance, so I can look up any word in the Bible. Here's a KJV with Strong's:
http://www.sacrednamebible.com/kjvstrongs/index2.htm
And last but not least, I use the Smith's Bible dictionary if I want to look up any proper name, name of place or historical Bible figure.
http://www.studylight.org/dic/sbd/
Other members on this site may use different Bibles, but these are the tools I use to understand the Word.
Hope that helps you. Ron.