Acts 8:3 in 8 translations
7 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.
As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
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.
But Saul laid waste the church, entering into every house, and dragging men and women committed them to prison.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into the houses one after another, and dragging off both men and women delivered them up to prison.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
and Saul was making havoc of the assembly, into every house entering, and haling men and women, was giving them up to prison;
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.
But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
These 2 editions word this verse identically.
But Saul began to devastate the church; he entered house after house, dragged out men and women alike, and threw them into prison.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Simplified English
Built from a deliberately small vocabulary so the sense stays reachable for new readers and non-native speakers. Trades nuance for clarity.
But Saul was burning with hate against the church, going into every house and taking men and women and putting them in prison.
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.
But Saul, ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison.
Word-for-word swaps
- for→But
- of→ravaged
- church→assembly
- haling→dragged
- them→off
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.