Genesis 24:43 in 6 translations
6 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.
Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink;
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.
Behold, I am standing by the fountain of water. And let it come to pass, that the maiden that cometh forth to draw, to whom I shall say, Give me, I pray thee, a little water from thy pitcher to drink.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
behold, I stand by the well of water, and let it come to pass that the damsel who cometh forth to draw [water], and to whom I shall say, Give me, I pray thee, a little water out of thy pitcher to drink,
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
(lo, I am standing by the fountain of water), then the virgin who is coming out to draw, and I have said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee, a little water from thy pitcher,
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.
behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes out to draw, to whom I will say, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,”
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.
Let it come about that, while I am waiting here by the water-spring, if a girl comes to get water and I say to her, Give me a little water from your vessel, and she says,
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.
Behold, I am standing by this spring of water; Let it happen, that the maiden who comes out to draw to whom I will say “Please Give me, a little water from your pitcher to drink;
Word-for-word swaps
- stand→am
- well→this
- and→Let
- pass→happen
- forth→maiden
- and→to
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.
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.