Bible Verses
Translation comparison

2 Maccabees 9:26 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

Therefore I pray and request you to remember the benefits that I have done unto you generally, and in special, and that every man will be still faithful to me and my son.

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 exhort you therefore and beseech you, having in your remembrance the benefits done to you in common and severally, to preserve each of you your present good will toward me and my son.

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 exhort you therefore and beseech you having in your remembrance the benefits done to you in common and severally, to preserve each of you your present good will toward me and my son.

Word-for-word swaps

  • prayexhort
  • requestbeseech
  • rememberhaving
  • untoto
  • specialcommon
  • faithfulseverally

The verses either side

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

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.