Isaiah 33:16 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 dwell on high: his place of defence the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters sure.
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.
He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; his bread shall be given [him]; his waters shall be sure.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
he shall dwell on high, the fortresses of the rocks shall be his high retreat; bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
He high places doth inhabit, Strongholds of rock are his high tower, His bread hath been given, his waters stedfast.
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.
he will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure.
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.
He will have a place on high: he will be safely shut in by the high rocks: his bread will be given to him; his waters will be certain.
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.
He will dwell on high: his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks: His bread will be supplied. his waters will be sure.
Word-for-word swaps
- shall→will
- defence→defense
- munitions→fortress
- him→supplied
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.