1 Corinthians 12:24 in 8 translations
8 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 our comely have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that which lacked:
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.
whereas our comely [parts] have no need: but God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that [part] which lacked;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
but our comely [parts] have not need. But God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to [the part] that lacked;
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
and our seemly things have no need; but God did temper the body together, to the lacking part having given more abundant honour,
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.
whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God composed the body together, giving more abundant honor to the inferior part,
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Yes, God has so constructed the body – by giving a special honor to the part that lacks it –
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Yes, God has so constructed the body – by giving a special honour to the part that lacks it –
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · The Commonwealth spelling edition of the Open English Bible. Identical wording to the US edition apart from spelling.
Simplified English
Built from a deliberately small vocabulary so the sense stays reachable for new readers and non-native speakers. Trades nuance for clarity.
But those parts of the body which are beautiful have no need of such care: and so the body has been joined together by God in such a way as to give more honour to those parts which had need of it;
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.
whereas our presentable parts have no such need: but God composed the body together, giving more abundant honor to the inferior part,
Word-for-word swaps
- For→whereas
- comely→presentable
- tempered→composed
- given→giving
- honour→honor
- lacked→the
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.