Acts 4:11 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.
This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
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.
He is the stone which was set at nought of you the builders, which was made the head of the corner.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
*He* is the stone which has been set at nought by you the builders, which is become the corner stone.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
`This is the stone that was set at nought by you--the builders, that became head of a corner;
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.
He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Jesus is ‘the stone which, scorned by you the builders, has yet become the corner stone.’
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Jesus is “the stone which, scorned by you the builders, has yet become the corner stone.”
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.
He is the stone which you builders had no use for, but which has been made the chief stone of the building.
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.
He is the stone which was regarded as worthless by you the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’
Word-for-word swaps
- This→He
- of→regarded
- is→has
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.