Translation comparison

Genesis 13:11 in 6 translations

6 distinct wordings, grouped by what each translation is trying to do. Differences from the King James text are marked below.

Read with nearby context Open chapter 13

Early modern English

Seventeenth-century wording and sentence shape. Familiar, rhythmic, and the version most quotations you have heard are taken from.

King James Version

KJV

Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

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.

American Standard Version

ASV

So Lot chose him all the Plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.

Darby Bible

DARBY

And Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan; and Lot went toward the east. And they separated the one from the other:

1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.

Young's Literal Translation

YLT

and Lot chooseth for himself the whole circuit of the Jordan; and Lot journeyeth from the east, and they are parted--a man from his companion;

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.

World English Bible

WEB

So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves the one from the other.

2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.

Simplified English

Built from a deliberately small vocabulary so the sense stays reachable for new readers and non-native speakers. Trades nuance for clarity.

Bible in Basic English

BBE

So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another.

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.

So Lot chose the plain of the Jordan; for himself. Lot traveled east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

Word-for-word swaps

Then→So
and→for
journeyed→traveled

The verses either side

King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.

10And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

11Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

12Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched tent toward Sodom.

Not shown for this verse: Open English Bible (US), Open English Bible (Commonwealth). Those translations are still incomplete in the corpus, and empty cards are not padded in.