Amos 8:6 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.
That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
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.
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and that we may sell the refuse of the wheat.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
To purchase with money the poor, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Yea, the refuse of the pure corn we sell.
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.
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”
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.
mixing the sweepings in with the wheat. Then we can buy the poor for money, the needy for a pair of shoes.
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.
Getting the poor for silver, and him who is in need for the price of two shoes, and taking a price for the waste parts of the grain.
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.
That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”
Word-for-word swaps
- of→sweepings
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.