Bible Verses
Translation comparison

2 Maccabees 10:10 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 will we declare the acts of Antiochus Eupator, who was the son of this wicked man, gathering briefly the calamities of the wars.

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

But now will we declare what came to pass under Antiochus named Eupator, who proved himself a true son of that ungodly man, and will gather up briefly the successive evils of the wars.

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.

But Now will we declare what came to pass under Antiochus named Eupator, who proved himself a true son of that ungodly man, and will gather up briefly the successive evils of the wars.

Word-for-word swaps

  • ofwhat
  • theproved
  • wickedthat
  • gatheringand
  • calamitiessuccessive

The verses either side

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

9And this was the end of Antiochus, called Epiphanes.
10Now will we declare the acts of Antiochus Eupator, who was the son of this wicked man, gathering briefly the calamities of the wars.
11So when he was come to the crown, he set one Lysias over the affairs of his realm, and appointed him his chief governor of Celosyria and Phenice.

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.