Luke 18:24 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 when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
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 Jesus seeing him said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
But when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, he said, How difficultly shall those who have riches enter into the kingdom of God;
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 Jesus having seen him become very sorrowful, said, `How hardly shall those having riches enter into the reign of God!
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.
Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Seeing this, Jesus said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Seeing this, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!
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 Jesus, looking at him, said, How hard it is for those who have wealth to get into the kingdom of God!
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.
Jesus seeing that he became very sad, said, How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s kingdom
Word-for-word swaps
- saw→seeing
- was→became
- he→sad
- that→hard
- the→God’s
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.