Acts 20:11 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.
When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.
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 when he was gone up, and had broken the bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And having gone up, and having broken the bread, and eaten, and having long spoken until daybreak, so he went away.
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 having come up, and having broken bread, and having tasted, for a long time also having talked--till daylight, so he went forth,
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.
When he had gone up, and had broken bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even until break of day, he departed.
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.
Then he went upstairs; and, after breaking and partaking of the bread, he talked with them at great length until daybreak, and then left.
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 when he had gone up, and had taken the broken bread, he went on talking to them for a long time, even till dawn, and then he went away.
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.
When he had gone up and had broken bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even until break of day, he departed.
Word-for-word swaps
- come→had
- till→until
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.