1 Corinthians 3:5 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.
Who then is Paul, and who Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
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.
What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Who then is Apollos, and who Paul? Ministering servants, through whom ye have believed, and as the Lord has given to each.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Who, then, is Paul, and who Apollos, but ministrants through whom ye did believe, and to each as the Lord gave?
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.
Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him?
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.
What, I ask, is Apollos? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you were led to accept the faith; and that only as the Lord helped each of you.
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.
What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? They are but servants who gave you the good news as God gave it to them.
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.
Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him?
Word-for-word swaps
- Paul→Apollos
- Apollos→is
- by→servants
- ye→you
- even→and
- man→him
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.