Translation comparison

2 Esdras 4:42 in 1 translation

Every translation here words this verse identically, which is itself worth knowing — there is no interpretive fork to weigh.

Read with nearby context Open chapter 4

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

For like as a woman that travaileth maketh haste to escape the necessity of the travail: even so do these places haste to deliver those things that are committed unto them.

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

The verses either side

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

41Then said I, No, Lord, that can she not. And he said unto me, In the grave the chambers of souls are like the womb of a woman:

42For like as a woman that travaileth maketh haste to escape the necessity of the travail: even so do these places haste to deliver those things that are committed unto them.

43From the beginning, look, what thou desirest to see, it shall be shewed thee.

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