Bible Verses
Translation comparison

1 Maccabees 9:35 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

Now Jonathan had sent his brother John, a captain of the people, to pray his friends the Nabathites, that they might leave with them their carriage, which was much.

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 Jonathan sent his brother, a leader of the multitude, and implored his friends the Nabathaeans, that they might leave with them their baggage, which was much.

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 Jonathan sent his brother a leader of the multitude, and implored his friends the Nabathaeans, that they might leave with them their baggage, which was much.

Word-for-word swaps

  • NowAnd
  • captainleader
  • praymultitude
  • NabathitesNabathaeans
  • carriagebaggage

The verses either side

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

34Which when Bacchides understood, he came near to Jordan with all his host upon the sabbath day.
35Now Jonathan had sent his brother John, a captain of the people, to pray his friends the Nabathites, that they might leave with them their carriage, which was much.
36But the children of Jambri came out of Medaba, and took John, and all that he had, and went their way with it.

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.