John 19:6 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.
When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify crucify Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify for I find no fault in 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.
When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify [him], crucify [him]! Pilate saith unto them, Take him yourselves, and crucify him: for I find no crime in him.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him they cried out saying, Crucify, crucify [him]. Pilate says to them, Take him ye and crucify [him], for I find no fault in 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.
When, therefore, the chief priests and the officers did see him, they cried out, saying, `Crucify, crucify;' Pilate saith to them, `Take ye him--ye, and crucify; for I find no fault in 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.
When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against 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.
When the chief priests and the police officers saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” said Pilate. “For my part, I find nothing with which he can be charged.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
When the chief priests and the police officers saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him,’ said Pilate. ‘For my part, I find nothing with which he can be charged.’
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.
So when the chief priests and the police saw him they gave a loud cry, To the cross! to the cross! Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and put him on the cross: I see no crime in 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.
When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, Crucify crucify Pilate said to them, Take him, yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.
Word-for-word swaps
- out→shouted
- unto→said
- in→basis
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.