Translation comparison

1 Maccabees 5:48 in 2 translations

2 distinct wordings, grouped by what each translation is trying to do. Differences from the King James text are marked below.

Read with nearby context Open chapter 5

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

Whereupon Judas sent unto them in peaceable manner, saying, Let us pass through your land to go into our own country, and none shall do you any hurt; we will only pass through on foot: howbeit they would not open unto him.

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 Judas sent to them with words of peace, saying, We will pass through your land to go into our own land, and none shall do you any hurt, we will only pass by on our feet. And they would not open to him.

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 Judas sent to them with words of peace, saying, We will pass through your land to go into our own land, and none shall do you any hurt; we will only pass by on our feet. And they would not open to him.

Word-for-word swaps

Whereupon→And
unto→to
manner→with
us→We
country→land
through→by

The verses either side

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

47Then they of the city shut them out, and stopped up the gates with stones.

48Whereupon Judas sent unto them in peaceable manner, saying, Let us pass through your land to go into our own country, and none shall do you any hurt; we will only pass through on foot: howbeit they would not open unto him.

49Wherefore Judas commanded a proclamation to be made throughout the host, that every man should pitch his tent in the place where he was.

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.