1 Corinthians 8:8 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.
But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.
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.
But food will not commend us to God: neither, if we eat not, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
But meat does not commend us to God; neither if we should not eat do we come short; nor if we should eat have we an advantage.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
But victuals do not commend us to God, for neither if we may eat are we in advance; nor if we may not eat, are we behind;
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.
But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.
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 we eat, however, will not bring us nearer to God. We lose nothing by not eating this food, and we gain nothing by eating it.
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.
But God's approval of us is not based on the food we take: if we do not take it we are no worse for it; and if we take it we are no better.
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.
But food will not commend us to God: for neither, if we don’t eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat are we the better.
Word-for-word swaps
- us→food
- neither→worse
- worse→better
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.