1 Thessalonians 5:12 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.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
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.
But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
But we beg you, brethren, to know those who labour among you, and take the lead among you in [the] Lord, and admonish you,
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
And we ask you, brethren, to know those labouring among you, and leading you in the Lord, and admonishing you,
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.
But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you,
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.
We beg you, friends, to value those who toil among you, and are your leaders in the Lord’s service, and give you counsel.
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.
But we make this request to you, my brothers: give attention to those who are working among you, who are over you in the Lord to keep order among 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.
But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
Word-for-word swaps
- And→But
- beseech→beg
- brethren→brothers
- labour→those
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.