Ephesians 4:1 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.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
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.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
*I*, the prisoner in [the] Lord, exhort you therefore to walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye have been called,
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Call upon you, then, do I--the prisoner of the Lord--to walk worthily of the calling with which ye were called,
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.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
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.
I beg you, then – I who am a prisoner in the Master’s cause – to live lives worthy of the call that you have received;
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.
I then, the prisoner in the Lord, make this request from my heart, that you will see that your behaviour is a credit to the position which God's purpose has given you,
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.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
Word-for-word swaps
- of→in
- beseech→beg
- ye→to
- worthy→worthily
- are→calling
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.