John 1:32 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.
And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
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 John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And John bore witness, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and it abode upon him.
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 John testified, saying--`I have seen the Spirit coming down, as a dove, out of heaven, and it remained on him;
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.
John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
John also said: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and rest on him.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
John also said: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and rest on him.
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.
And John gave this witness, saying, I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and resting on him.
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.
John testified, saying, I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove, out of heaven, and it remained on him.
Word-for-word swaps
- record→testified
- saw→have
- upon→remained
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.