Acts 6:13 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.
And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
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 set up false witnesses, who said, This man ceaseth not to speak words against this holy place, and the law:
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And they set false witnesses, saying, This man does not cease speaking words against the holy place and the law;
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
they set up also false witnesses, saying, `This one doth not cease to speak evil sayings against this holy place and the law,
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.
and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
There they produced witnesses who gave false evidence. “This man,” they said, “is incessantly saying things against this Holy place and the Law;
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
There they produced witnesses who gave false evidence. ‘This man,’ they said, ‘is incessantly saying things against this Holy place and the Law;
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.
And they got false witnesses who said, This man is for ever saying things against this holy place and against the law:
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.
And set up false witnesses, who said, This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
Word-for-word swaps
- which→who
- speak→never
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.