1 Corinthians 2:8 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.
Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
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.
which none of the rulers of this world hath known: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory:
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
which none of the princes of this age knew, (for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of 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.
which no one of the rulers of this age did know, for if they had known, the Lord of the glory they would not have crucified;
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.
which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.
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.
This philosophy is not known to any of the leaders of today; for, had they known it, they would not have crucified our glorified Lord.
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.
Of which not one of the rulers of this world had knowledge: for if they had, they would not have put the Lord of glory on the cross:
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.
Which none of the rulers of this world has known. for had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.
Word-for-word swaps
- princes→rulers
- knew→has
- not→wouldn’t
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.