Esther 2:11 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.
And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women’s house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her.
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.
And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women`s house, to know how Esther did, and what would become of her.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
and during every day Mordecai is walking up and down before the court of the house of the women to know the welfare of Esther, and what is done with her.
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.
Mordecai walked every day in front of the court of the women’s house, to find out how Esther was doing, and what would become of her.
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.
Every day Mordecai would to walk in front of the courtyard of the harem and ask after Esther’s health and what was happening to her.
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 every day Mordecai took his walk before the square of the women's house, to see how Esther was and what would be done to her.
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.
Mordecai walked every day in front of the court of the women’s house, to find out how Esther was doing, and what would become of her.
Word-for-word swaps
- before→in
- know→find
- did→was
- should→would
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.