Esther 6:8 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.
Let the royal apparel be brought which the king to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head:
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.
let royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and on the head of which a crown royal is set:
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
let the royal apparel be brought with which the king arrays himself, and the horse that the king rides upon, and on the head of which the royal crown is set;
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
let them bring in royal clothing that the king hath put on himself, and a horse on which the king hath ridden, and that the royal crown be put on his head,
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.
let royal clothing be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a crown royal is set.
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.
let a royal garment be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden and on whose head a royal diadem has been placed.
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.
Let them take the robes which the king generally puts on, and the horse on which the king goes, and the crown which is on his head:
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.
Let royal clothing be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a crown royal is set
Word-for-word swaps
- apparel→clothing
- upon→rides
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.