Luke 21:16 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 ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and of you shall they cause to be put to death.
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.
But ye shall be delivered up even by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; and [some] of you shall they cause to be put to death.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
But ye will be delivered up even by parents and brethren and relations and friends, and they shall put to death [some] from among you,
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 ye shall be delivered up also by parents, and brothers, and kindred, and friends, and they shall put of you to death;
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.
You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death.
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.
You will be betrayed even by your parents and brothers and sisters and sisters and relatives and friends, and they will cause some of you to be put to death,
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.
But you will be given up even by your fathers and mothers, your brothers and relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death.
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.
You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends; they will cause some of you to be put to death.
Word-for-word swaps
- shall→You
- both→handed
- kinsfolks→brothers
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.