Luke 1:9 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.
According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
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.
according to the custom of the priest`s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
it fell to him by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter into the temple of the Lord to burn incense.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot was to make perfume, having gone into the sanctuary of the Lord,
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.
according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
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.
it fell to him by lot, in accordance with the practice among the priests, to go into the Temple of the Lord and burn incense;
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.
And as was the way of the priests, he had to go into the Temple to see to the burning of perfumes.
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.
According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord. and burn incense.
Word-for-word swaps
- went→enter
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.