1 Peter 2:10 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.
Which in time past not a people, but now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
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.
who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
who once [were] not a people, but now God's people; who were not enjoying mercy, but now have found mercy.
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 were once not a people, and are now the people of God; who had not found kindness, and now have found kindness.
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 in time past were no people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Once you were ‘not a people,’ but now you are ‘God’s people’; once you ‘had not found mercy,’ but now you ‘have found mercy.’
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Once you were “not a people,” but now you are “God’s people”; once you “had not found mercy,” but now you “have found mercy.”
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.
In the past you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; then there was no mercy for you, but now mercy has been given to you.
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 in time past were no people, but now are God’s people who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Word-for-word swaps
- Which→who
- a→were
- the→are
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.