Joel 2:9 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.
They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
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.
They leap upon the city; they run upon the wall; they climb up into the houses; they enter in at the windows like a thief.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
They spread themselves over the city; they run upon the wall; they climb up into the houses; they enter in by the windows like a thief.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
In the city they run to and fro, On the wall they run, Into houses they go up by the windows, They go in as a thief.
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.
They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves.
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.
They scour the city, they run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. Like a thief they enter the windows.
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.
They make a rush on the town, running on the wall; they go up into the houses and in through the windows like a thief.
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.
They rush on the city; they run on the wall, they climb up into the houses; they enter in at the windows like thieves.
Word-for-word swaps
- in→rush
- upon→on
- upon→into
- thief→thieves
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.