1 Corinthians 3:2 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.
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able neither yet now are ye able.
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.
I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able [to bear it]: nay, not even now are ye able;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
I have given you milk to drink, not meat, for ye have not yet been able, nor indeed are ye yet able;
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
with milk I fed you, and not with meat, for ye were not yet able, but not even yet are ye now able,
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.
I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, not even now are you ready,
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.
I fed you with milk, not with solid food, for you were not then able to take it. No, and even now you are not able; you are still worldly.
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.
I gave you milk and not meat, because you were, then, unable to take it, and even now you are not able;
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.
I fed you with milk, not with meat: for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, not even now are you ready,
Word-for-word swaps
- neither→you
- able→you
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.