Luke 18:7 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.
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
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 shall not God avenge his elect, that cry to him day and night, and [yet] he is longsuffering over them?
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And shall not God at all avenge his elect, who cry to him day and night, and he bears long as to them?
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 shall not God execute the justice to His choice ones, who are crying unto Him day and night--bearing long in regard to them?
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.
Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
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.
And God – won’t he see that his own people, who cry to him night and day, have justice done them – though he holds his hand?
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 will not God do right in the cause of his saints, whose cries come day and night to his ears, though he is long in doing it?
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.
Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night and yet he exercises patience with them?
Word-for-word swaps
- not→Won’t
- cry→chosen
- though→and
- long→exercises
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.