Bible Verses
Translation comparison

1 Maccabees 15:14 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

And when he had compassed the city round about, and joined ships close to the town on the sea side, he vexed the city by land and by sea, neither suffered he any to go out or in.

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

And he compassed the city round about, and the ships joined in the attack from the sea; and he vexed the city by land and sea, and suffered no man to go out or in.

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.

And he compassed the city round about, and the ships joined in the attack from the sea and he vexed the city by land and sea, and suffered no man to go out or in.

Word-for-word swaps

  • joinedthe
  • tojoined
  • onattack
  • sideand
  • neitherand
  • anyno

The verses either side

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

13Then camped Antiochus against Dora, having with him an hundred and twenty thousand men of war, and eight thousand horsemen.
14And when he had compassed the city round about, and joined ships close to the town on the sea side, he vexed the city by land and by sea, neither suffered he any to go out or in.
15In the mean season came Numenius and his company from Rome, having letters to the kings and countries; wherein were written these things:

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.