Hosea 10:3 in 8 translations
8 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.
For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?
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.
Surely now shall they say, We have no king; for we fear not Jehovah; and the king, what can he do for us?
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
For now they will say, We have no king, for we feared not Jehovah; and a king, what can he do for us?
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
For now they say: We have no king, Because we have not feared Jehovah, And the king--what doth he for us?
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.
Surely now they will say, “We have no king; for we don’t fear Yahweh; and the king, what can he do for us?”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Yes, soon they will be saying, “We have no king, for we have not revered the Lord, and a king, what could he do for us anyway?”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Yes, soon they will be saying, ‘We have no king, for we have not revered the Lord, and a king, what could he do for us anyway?’
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · The Commonwealth spelling edition of the Open English Bible. Identical wording to the US edition apart from spelling.
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, truly, they will say, We have no king, we have no fear of the Lord; and the king, what is he able to do for us?
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.
Surely now they will say, We have no king, for we don’t fear Yahweh; and the king what can he do for us?
Word-for-word swaps
- For→Surely
- shall→will
- because→for
- not→don’t
- to→for
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.