Ephesians 5:14 in 8 translations
8 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 he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
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.
Wherefore [he] saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Wherefore he says, Wake up, [thou] that sleepest, and arise up from among the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
wherefore he saith, `Arouse thyself, thou who art sleeping, and arise out of the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee.'
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.
Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
For everything that has its true character made manifest is clear as light. And that is why it is said – ‘Sleeper, awake! Arise from the dead, and the Christ will give you light!’
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
For everything that has its true character made manifest is clear as light. And that is why it is said – “Sleeper, awake! Arise from the dead, and the Christ will give you light!”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · The Commonwealth spelling edition of the Open English Bible. Identical wording to the US edition apart from spelling.
Simplified English
Built from a deliberately small vocabulary so the sense stays reachable for new readers and non-native speakers. Trades nuance for clarity.
For this reason he says, Be awake, you who are sleeping, and come up from among the dead, and Christ will be your light.
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.
Therefore he says, Awake you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Word-for-word swaps
- Wherefore→Therefore
- saith→says
- sleepest→you
- light→will
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.