1 Peter 2:2 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.
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
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.
as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
as newborn babes desire earnestly the pure mental milk of the word, that by it ye may grow up to salvation,
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 new-born babes the word's pure milk desire ye, that in it ye may grow,
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.
as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,
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.
like newly born infants, crave pure spiritual milk, so that you may be enabled by it to grow until you attain salvation –
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.
Be full of desire for the true milk of the word, as babies at their mothers' breasts, so that you may go on to salvation;
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 newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, that with it you may grow
Word-for-word swaps
- desire→babies
- sincere→pure
- ye→with
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.