Colossians 2:20 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.
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
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.
If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances,
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
If ye have died with Christ from the elements of the world, why as [if] alive in [the] world do ye subject yourselves to ordinances?
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
If, then, ye did die with the Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?
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.
If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
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.
Since, with Christ, you became dead to the puerile teaching of this world, why do you submit, as if you still belonged to the world,
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.
If you were made free, by your death with Christ, from the rules of the world, why do you put yourselves under the authority of orders
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.
if you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
Word-for-word swaps
- dead→you
- rudiments→elements
- ye→do
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.