Colossians 2:12 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.
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
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.
having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with [him] through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
being buried with him in the baptism, in which also ye rose with him through the faith of the working of God, who did raise him out of the dead.
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.
having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
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.
For in baptism you were buried with Christ; and in baptism you were also raised to life with him, through your faith in the omnipotence of God, who raised him from the dead.
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.
Having been put to death with him in baptism, by which you came to life again with him, through faith in the working of God, who made him come back from the dead.
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.
having been Buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Word-for-word swaps
- wherein→in
- risen→raised
- of→in
- operation→working
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.