Amos 3:11 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.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.
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.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: An adversary [there shall be], even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be plundered.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: An adversary! even round about the land! And he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be pillaged.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: An adversary--and surrounding the land, And he hath brought down from thee thy strength, And spoiled have been thy palaces.
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.
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered.”
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.
Therefore the Lord God says: An enemy will surround the land, he will strip your strength from you. and your palaces will be looted.
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.
For this reason, says the Lord, an attacker will come, shutting in the land on every side; and your strength will come down and your great houses will be made waste.
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.
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered.”
Word-for-word swaps
- saith→says
- GOD→Yahweh
- about→will
- bring→will
- thee→your
- shall→your
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.