Acts 2:42 in 8 translations
7 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 they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
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 they continued stedfastly in the apostles` teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers.
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 they were continuing stedfastly in the teaching of the apostles, and the fellowship, and the breaking of the bread, and the prayers.
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.
They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
These 2 editions word this verse identically.
They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the Common life of the church, to the breaking of the bread and to the Prayers.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
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 they kept their attention fixed on the Apostles' teaching and were united together in the taking of broken bread and in prayer.
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.
they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.
Word-for-word swaps
- stedfastly→steadfastly
- doctrine→teaching
- prayers→prayer
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.