Translation comparison

2 Maccabees 7:28 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 7

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

I beseech thee, my son, look upon the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, and consider that God made them of things that were not; and so was mankind made likewise.

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

I beseech you, my child, to lift your eyes to the heaven and the earth, and to see all things that are therein, and thus to recognize that God made them not of things that were, and that the race of men in this wise comes into being.

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.

I beseech you, my child, to lift your eyes to the heaven and the earth, and to see all things that are therein, and thus to recognize that God made them not of things that were and that the race of men in this wise comes into being.

Word-for-word swaps

thee→you
upon→child
is→are
consider→thus
likewise→that

The verses either side

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

27But she bowing herself toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, spake in her country language on this manner; O my son, have pity upon me that bare thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee such three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age, and endured the troubles of education.

28I beseech thee, my son, look upon the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, and consider that God made them of things that were not; and so was mankind made likewise.

29Fear not this tormentor, but, being worthy of thy brethren, take thy death that I may receive thee again in mercy with thy brethren.

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.