John 6:58 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.
This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
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.
This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he that eateth this bread shall live for ever.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
This is the bread which has come down out of heaven. Not as the fathers ate and died: he that eats this bread shall live for ever.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
this is the bread that came down out of the heaven; not as your fathers did eat the manna, and died; he who is eating this bread shall live--to the age.'
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.
This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
That is the bread which has come down from heaven – not such as your ancestors ate, and yet died; the person who takes this bread for their food will live for ever.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
That is the bread which has come down from heaven – not such as your ancestors ate, and yet died; the person who takes this bread for their food will live for ever.’
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.
This is the bread which has come down from heaven. It is not like the food which your fathers had: they took of the manna, and are dead; but he who takes this bread for food will have life for ever.
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.
This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. he who eats this bread will live forever.”
Word-for-word swaps
- that→the
- not→out
- your→our
- eat→ate
- dead→died
- of→who
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.