John 4:38 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.
I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
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.
I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are entered into their labor.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
I have sent you to reap that on which ye have not laboured; others have laboured, and ye have entered into their labours.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
I sent you to reap that on which ye have not laboured; others laboured, and ye into their labour have entered.
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.
I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
I have sent you to reap that on which you have spent no labor; others have labored, and you have reaped the results of their labor.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
I have sent you to reap that on which you have spent no labour; others have laboured, and you have reaped the results of their labour.’
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.
I sent you to get in grain which you had no hand in planting: other men did that work, and you take the reward.
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.
I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
Word-for-word swaps
- laboured→for
- are→you
- labours→labor
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.