John 3:12 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.
If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you heavenly things?
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.
If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
If I have said the earthly things to you, and ye believe not, how, if I say the heavenly things to you, will ye believe?
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
if the earthly things I said to you, and ye do not believe, how, if I shall say to you the heavenly things, will ye believe?
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.
If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
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.
If, when I tell you earthly things, you do not believe me, how will you believe me when I tell you of heavenly things?
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.
If you have no belief when my words are about the things of earth, how will you have belief if my words are about the things of heaven?
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.
If I told you earthly things, and you don’t believe how will you believe, if I tell you heavenly things?
Word-for-word swaps
- ye→you
- ye→will
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.