Bible Verses
Translation comparison

1 Esdras 8:39 in 2 translations

2 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.

King James Version
KJV

Of the sons of Adonikam the last, and these are the names of them, Eliphalet, Jewel, and Samaias, and with them seventy men:

1611 / 1769 · Public domain · The Authorised Version, revised to the 1769 Blayney text. Includes the Apocrypha as printed in 1611.

Modern English

Contemporary vocabulary and punctuation, aiming for the sentence a present-day reader would write while staying close to the source.

World English Bible
WEB

of the sons of Adonikam, the last, and these are the names of them, Eliphalat, Jeuel, and Shemaiah. Samaias, and with them seventy men:

2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.

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.

Of the sons of Adonikam the last, and these are the names of them, Eliphalat, Jeuel, and Shemaiah. Samaias, and with them seventy men:

Word-for-word swaps

  • JewelEliphalat

The verses either side

King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.

38Of the sons of Astath, Johannes son of Acatan, and with him an hundred and ten men:
39Of the sons of Adonikam the last, and these are the names of them, Eliphalet, Jewel, and Samaias, and with them seventy men:
40Of the sons of Bago, Uthi the son of Istalcurus, and with him seventy men.

Not shown for this verse: American Standard Version, Darby Bible, Young's Literal Translation, Open English Bible (US), Open English Bible (Commonwealth), Bible in Basic English. Most modern translations do not include the Apocrypha.