Habakkuk 2:10 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.
Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul.
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.
Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thine own 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.
Thou hast counselled a shameful thing to thy house, To cut off many peoples, and sinful is thy 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.
You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.
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.
You have planned only shame for your dynasty. You have destroyed many peoples, and brought guilt upon yourself;
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.
You have been a cause of shame to your house by cutting off a number of peoples, and sinning against your soul.
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.
You have devised shame to your house by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.
Word-for-word swaps
- consulted→You
- thy→your
- people→peoples
- hast→have
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.