Ephesians 6:6 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.
Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the 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.
not in the way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
not with eye-service as men-pleasers; but as bondmen of Christ, doing the will of God from [the] soul,
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as servants of the Christ, doing the will of God out of soul,
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.
not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
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.
not only when their eyes are on you, as if you had merely to please people, but as slaves of Christ, who are trying to carry out the will of God.
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.
Not only under your master's eye, as pleasers of men; but as servants of Christ, doing the pleasure of God from the heart;
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.
Not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
Word-for-word swaps
- eyeservice→in
- menpleasers→men
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.