1 Corinthians 14:34 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.
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
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.
let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Let [your] women be silent in the assemblies, for it is not permitted to them to speak; but to be in subjection, as the law also says.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Your women in the assemblies let them be silent, for it hath not been permitted to them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law saith;
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.
Let the wives be quiet in the assemblies, for it has not been permitted for them to be talking except in submission, as the law also says,
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.
At the meetings of the church married women should remain silent, for they are not allowed to speak in public; they should take a subordinate place, as the Law itself directs.
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.
Let women keep quiet in the churches: for it is not right for them to be talking; but let them be under control, as it says in the law.
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.
Let the wives be quiet in the assemblies, for it has not been permitted for them to be talking except in submission, as the law. also says,
Word-for-word swaps
- silence→the
- churches→assemblies
- is→has
- unto→for
- obedience→talking
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.