John 19:40 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.
Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
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.
So they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
They took therefore the body of Jesus and bound it up in linen with the spices, as it is the custom with the Jews to prepare for burial.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
They took, therefore, the body of Jesus, and bound it with linen clothes with the spices, according as it was the custom of the Jews to prepare for burial;
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.
So they took Jesus’ body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.
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 took the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen with the spices, according to the Jewish mode of burial.
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.
Then they took the body of Jesus, folding linen about it with the spices, as is the way of the Jews when they put the dead to rest.
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.
So they took Jesus’ body and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.
Word-for-word swaps
- took→So
- the→took
- wound→bound
- clothes→cloths
- manner→custom
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.