Isaiah 27:6 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.
He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
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.
In days to come shall Jacob take root; Israel shall blossom and bud; and they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
In the future Jacob shall take root; Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Those coming in He causeth to take root, Jacob doth blossom, and flourished hath Israel, And they have filled the face of the world with increase.
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.
In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit.
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.
In days to come Jacob will take root: Israel will put out buds and flowers; and the face of the world will be full of fruit.
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.
In days to come Jacob will take root: Israel will blossom and bud, They will fill the surface of the world with fruit.
Word-for-word swaps
- that→In
- to→will
- shall→will
- and→They
- face→surface
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.