Luke 14:9 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 he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
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 he that bade thee and him shall come and say to thee, Give this man place; and then thou shalt begin with shame to take the lowest place.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
and he who invited thee and him come and say to thee, Give place to this [man], and then thou begin with shame to take the last place.
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 he who did call thee and him having come shall say to thee, Give to this one place, and then thou mayest begin with shame to occupy the last place.
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.
and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.
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 the host who invited you both will come and say to you ‘Make room for this person,’ and then you will begin in confusion to take the lowest place.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
and the host who invited you both will come and say to you “Make room for this person,” and then you will begin in confusion to take the lowest place.
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 then the giver of the feast will come to you and say, Give your place to this man; and you, with shame, will have to take the lowest seat.
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.
And he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin with shame to take the lowest place.
Word-for-word swaps
- him→who
- Give→tell
- thou→person
- room→place
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.