Luke 20:9 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.
Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.
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 began to speak unto the people this parable: A man planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country for a long time.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And he began to speak to the people this parable: A man planted a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen, and left the country for a long time.
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 began to speak unto the people this simile: `A certain man planted a vineyard, and gave it out to husbandmen, and went abroad for a long time,
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.
He began to tell the people this parable. “A man planted a vineyard, and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
But Jesus began to tell the people this parable – “A man once planted a vineyard, and then let it out to tenants, and went abroad for a long while.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
But Jesus began to tell the people this parable – ‘A man once planted a vineyard, and then let it out to tenants, and went abroad for a long while.
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 he gave the people this story: A man made a vine-garden and gave the use of it to some field-workers and went into another country for a long time.
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.
he began to tell the people this parable; A man planted a vineyard, and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time.
Word-for-word swaps
- speak→began
- let→rented
- forth→out
- husbandmen→some
- far→another
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.