Joel 3:6 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.
The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
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.
and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem unto the sons of the Grecians, that ye may remove them far from their border;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
and the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the children of the Greeks, that ye might remove them far from their border.
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 sons of Judah, and sons of Jerusalem, Ye have sold to the sons of Javan, To put them far off from their border.
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.
and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.
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.
you have sold the people of Judah and of Jerusalem to the Greeks, so that you might remove them far from their own borders.
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.
And the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem you have given for a price to the sons of the Greeks, to send them far away from their land:
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.
and have sold The children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.
Word-for-word swaps
- unto→to
- Grecians→sons
- might→you
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.