Acts 10:15 in 8 translations
8 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.
And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
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.
And a voice [came] unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And [there was] a voice again the second time to him, What God has cleansed, do not *thou* make common.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
and there is a voice again a second time unto him: `What God did cleanse, thou, declare not thou common;'
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.
A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Again he was aware of a voice which said – “What God has pronounced clean, do not regard as defiled.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Again he was aware of a voice which said – ‘What God has pronounced clean, do not regard as defiled.’
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · The Commonwealth spelling edition of the Open English Bible. Identical wording to the US edition apart from spelling.
Simplified English
Built from a deliberately small vocabulary so the sense stays reachable for new readers and non-native speakers. Trades nuance for clarity.
And the voice came to him a second time, What God has made clean, do not you make common.
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.
A voice came to him again the second time, What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.”
Word-for-word swaps
- the→A
- unto→came
- hath→has
- call→you
- common→call
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.