Hebrews 11:3 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.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
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.
By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
By faith we apprehend that the worlds were framed by [the] word of God, so that that which is seen should not take its origin from things which appear.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
by faith we understand the ages to have been prepared by a saying of God, in regard to the things seen not having come out of things appearing;
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.
By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.
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.
Faith enables us to perceive that the universe was created at the bidding of God – so that we know that what we see was not made out of visible things.
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.
By faith it is clear to us that the order of events was fixed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made from things which only seem to be.
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.
By faith we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.
Word-for-word swaps
- Through→By
- were→universe
- are→what
- were→has
- appear→are
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.