2 Timothy 2:4 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.
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
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.
No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of [this] life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
No one going as a soldier entangles himself with the affairs of life, that he may please him who has enlisted him as a soldier.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
no one serving as a soldier did entangle himself with the affairs of life, that him who did enlist him he may please;
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.
No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.
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.
A soldier on active service, to please his superior officer, always avoids entangling himself in the affairs of ordinary life.
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.
A fighting man, when he is with the army, keeps himself free from the business of this life so that he may be pleasing to him who has taken him into his army.
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.
No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.
Word-for-word swaps
- entangleth→soldier
- with→in
- chosen→enrolled
- be→as
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.