John 4:11 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.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
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 woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: whence then hast thou that living water?
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
The woman says to him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: whence then hast thou the living water?
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 woman saith to him, `Sir, thou hast not even a vessel to draw with, and the well is deep; whence, then, hast thou the living water?
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 woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water?
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
“You have no bucket, Sir, and the well is deep,” she said. “Where did you get that ‘living water?’
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
‘You have no bucket, Sir, and the well is deep,’ she said. ‘Where did you get that “living water?”
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.
The woman said to him, Sir, you have no vessel and the fountain is deep; from where will you get the living water?
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 woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: So where do you get that living water?
Word-for-word swaps
- unto→said
- hast→you
- thou→So
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.