1 Peter 3:3 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.
Whose adorning let it not be that outward of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
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.
Whose [adorning] let it not be the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on apparel;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
whose adorning let it not be that outward one of tressing of hair, and wearing gold, or putting on apparel;
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
whose adorning--let it not be that which is outward, of plaiting of hair, and of putting around of things of gold, or of putting on of garments,
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.
Let your beauty be not just the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on fine clothing;
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Yours should be, not the external adornment of the arrangement of the hair, the wearing of jewelry, or the putting on of dresses,
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Yours should be, not the external adornment of the arrangement of the hair, the wearing of jewellery, or the putting on of dresses,
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.
Do not let your ornaments be those of the body such as dressing of the hair, or putting on of jewels of gold or fair clothing;
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.
let your beauty be not just the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on fine clothing;
Word-for-word swaps
- not→your
- that→not
- plaiting→braiding
- apparel→fine
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.