Acts 4:25 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.
Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
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.
who by the Holy Spirit, [by] the mouth of our father David thy servant, didst say, Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples imagine vain things?
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
who hast said by the mouth of thy servant David, Why have [the] nations raged haughtily and [the] peoples meditated vain things?
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
who, through the mouth of David thy servant, did say, Why did nations rage, and peoples meditate vain things?
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.
who by the mouth of your servant, David, said, ‘Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
and who, by the lips of our ancestor, your servant David, who spoke under the influence of the Holy Spirit, have said – ‘Why did the nations rage, and the peoples form vain designs?
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
and who, by the lips of our ancestor, your servant David, who spoke under the influence of the Holy Spirit, have said – “Why did the nations rage, and the peoples form vain designs?
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.
Who has said, by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David your servant, Why are the nations so violently moved, and why are the thoughts of the people so foolish?
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.
Who by the mouth of your servant David said, Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
Word-for-word swaps
- thy→your
- did→do
- heathen→nations
- imagine→peoples
- things→thing
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.