Acts 3:26 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.
Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
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.
Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
To you first God, having raised up his servant, has sent him, blessing you in turning each one [of you] from your wickedness.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
to you first, God, having raised up His child Jesus, did send him, blessing you, in the turning away of each one from your evil ways.'
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.
God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
For you, first, God raised up his servant, and sent him to bless you, by turning each one of you from his wicked ways.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
For you, first, God raised up his servant, and sent him to bless you, by turning each one of you from his wicked ways.’
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.
To you, first, God sent his servant, blessing you by turning every one of you from his sins.
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.
God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”
Word-for-word swaps
- Son→servant
- iniquities→your
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.