Acts 27:34 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.
Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.
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.
Wherefore I beseech you to take some food: for this is for your safety: for there shall not a hair perish from the head of any of you.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Wherefore I exhort you to partake of food, for this has to do with your safety; for not a hair from the head of any one of you shall perish.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
wherefore I call upon you to take nourishment, for this is for your safety, for of not one of you shall a hair from the head fall;'
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.
Therefore I beg you to take some food, for this is for your safety; for not a hair will perish from any of your heads.”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
So I beg you to take something to eat; your safety depends on it, for not one of you will lose even a hair of his head.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
So I beg you to take something to eat; your safety depends on it, for not one of you will lose even a hair of his head.’
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.
So I make request to you to take food; for this is for your salvation: not a hair from the head of any of you will come to destruction.
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.
Therefore I beg you to take some food, for this is for your safety; for not a hair will perish from any of your heads.”
Word-for-word swaps
- Wherefore→Therefore
- pray→beg
- meat→food
- health→safety
- an→a
- fall→will
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.