Luke 1:58 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.
And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
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.
And her neighbors and her kinsfolk heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her; and they rejoiced with her.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And her neighbours and kinsfolk heard that [the] Lord had magnified his mercy with her, and they rejoiced with her.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
and the neighbours and her kindred heard that the Lord was making His kindness great with her, and they were rejoicing with her.
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.
Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
and her neighbors and relatives, hearing of the great goodness of the Lord to her, came to share her joy.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
and her neighbours and relatives, hearing of the great goodness of the Lord to her, came to share her joy.
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.
And it came to the ears of her neighbours and relations that the Lord had been very good to her, and they took part in her joy.
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.
her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her; and they rejoiced with her.
Word-for-word swaps
- neighbours→neighbors
- cousins→relatives
- how→that
- great→magnified
- upon→towards
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.