Hebrews 9:6 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.
Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service
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.
Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Now these things being thus ordered, into the first tabernacle the priests enter at all times, accomplishing the services;
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
And these things having been thus prepared, into the first tabernacle, indeed, at all times the priests do go in, performing the services,
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.
Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services,
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.
Such, then, was the arrangement of the tent. Into the outer part priests are constantly going, in the discharge of their sacred duties;
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.
Now while these things were in existence, the priests went into the first Tent at all times, for prayer and the making of offerings.
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.
Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services,
Word-for-word swaps
- were→having
- ordained→prepared
- always→go
- service→services
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.