Ephesians 4:18 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.
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
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.
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
being darkened in understanding, estranged from the life of God by reason of the ignorance which is in them, by reason of the hardness of their hearts,
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 darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,
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.
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts;
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.
with their powers of discernment darkened, cut off from the life of God, owing to the ignorance that prevails among them and to the hardness of their hearts.
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.
Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard;
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.
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts;
Word-for-word swaps
- through→because
- blindness→hardening
- heart→hearts
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.