Colossians 4:3 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.
Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:
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.
withal praying for us also, that God may open unto us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
praying at the same time for us also, that God may open to us a door of the word to speak the mystery of Christ, on account of which also I am bound,
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
praying at the same time also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the secret of the Christ, because of which also I have been bound,
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.
praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;
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.
and at the same time pray for us, so that God may give us an opening for our message, so that we may speak of the truths hidden in the Christ – the truths for which I am in chains!
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.
And making prayer for us, that God may give us an open door for the preaching of the word, the secret of Christ, for which I am now in chains;
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.
praying together for us, also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:
Word-for-word swaps
- also→together
- would→may
- unto→to
- utterance→for
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.