John 12:17 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 people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.
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.
The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, bare witness.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
The crowd therefore that was with him bore witness because he had called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from among [the] dead.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
The multitude, therefore, who are with him, were testifying that he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and did raise him out of the dead;
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.
The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, was testifying about it.
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.
Meanwhile the people who were with him, when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, were telling what they had seen.
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.
Now the people who were with him when his voice came to Lazarus in the place of the dead, and gave him life again, had been talking about it.
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.
The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, was testifying about it.
Word-for-word swaps
- people→multitude
- grave→the
- record→was
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.