1 Peter 2:16 in 8 translations
6 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.
As free, and not using liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
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.
These 2 editions word this verse identically.
as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
as free, and not as having liberty as a cloak of malice, but as God's bondmen.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
as free, and not having the freedom as the cloak of the evil, but as servants of God;
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.
These 2 editions word this verse identically.
Act as free people, yet not using your freedom as those do who make it a cloak for wickedness, but as Servants of God.
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.
As those who are free, not using your free position as a cover for wrongdoing, but living as the servants of God;
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.
As free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
Word-for-word swaps
- liberty→your
- cloke→cloak
- maliciousness→wickedness
- servants→bondservants
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.