1 Corinthians 11:7 in 8 translations
7 distinct wordings, grouped by what each translation is trying to do. Differences from the King James text are marked below.
Early modern English
Seventeenth-century wording and sentence shape. Familiar, rhythmic, and the version most quotations you have heard are taken from.
For a man indeed ought not to cover head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
1611 / 1769 · Public domain · The Authorised Version, revised to the 1769 Blayney text. Includes the Apocrypha as printed in 1611.
Literal, word-for-word
Follows Hebrew and Greek word order and grammar closely, even where the English becomes stiff. Useful for seeing what the underlying sentence is doing.
For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
For man indeed ought not to have his head covered, being God's image and glory; but woman is man's glory.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
for a man, indeed, ought not to cover the head, being the image and glory of God, and a woman is the glory of a man,
1898 · Public domain · The most extreme word-for-word rendering here, keeping Hebrew and Greek tense and word order at the cost of natural English.
Modern English
Contemporary vocabulary and punctuation, aiming for the sentence a present-day reader would write while staying close to the source.
For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
These 2 editions word this verse identically.
A man ought not to have his head covered, for he has been from the beginning the likeness of God and the reflection of his glory, but woman is the reflection of man’s glory.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Simplified English
Built from a deliberately small vocabulary so the sense stays reachable for new readers and non-native speakers. Trades nuance for clarity.
For it is not right for a man to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
1949 · Public domain · Written with roughly a thousand basic English words plus a small Bible vocabulary. The plainest reading available here.
What changes between the King James and modern wording
The modern rendering is printed below with every word that differs from the King James text marked, so the actual divergence is visible rather than left for you to spot.
For a man indeed ought not to have his head, covered, because he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
Word-for-word swaps
- cover→have
- as→covered
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.