1 Corinthians 3:18 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.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
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 no man deceive himself. If any man thinketh that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Let no one deceive himself: if any one thinks himself to be wise among you in this world, let him become foolish, that he may be wise.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Let no one deceive himself; if any one doth seem to be wise among you in this age--let him become a fool, that he may become wise,
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 no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you imagines that, as regards this world, they are wise, they should become a ‘fool,’ that they may become wise.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you imagines that, as regards this world, they are wise, they should become a “fool,” that they may become wise.
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.
Let no man have a false idea. If any man seems to himself to be wise among you, let him become foolish, so that he may be wise.
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 no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
Word-for-word swaps
- man→one
- man→anyone
- be→become
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.