1 Thessalonians 2:11 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 ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father his children,
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 ye know how we [dealt with] each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging [you], and testifying,
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
as ye know how, as a father his own children, we used to exhort each one of you, and comfort and testify,
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
even as ye have known, how each one of you, as a father his own children, we are exhorting you, and comforting, and testifying,
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 you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children,
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.
Indeed, you know that, like a father with his own children, we used to encourage and comfort every one of you, and solemnly plead with you;
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.
Even as you saw how, like a father with his children, we were teaching and comforting you all, and giving witness,
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 you know we exhorted comforted and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children,
Word-for-word swaps
- ye→you
- charged→implored
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.