Luke 23:39 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 one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
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 one of the malefactors that were hanged railed on him, saying, Art not thou the Christ? save thyself and us.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Now one of the malefactors who had been hanged spoke insultingly to him, saying, Art not thou the Christ? save thyself and us.
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 one of the evil-doers who were hanged, was speaking evil of him, saying, `If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us.'
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.
One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
One of the criminals who were hanging beside Jesus railed at him. “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us,” he said.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
One of the criminals who were hanging beside Jesus railed at him. ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us,’ he said.
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 one of the evil-doers on the cross, with bitter feeling, said to him, Are you not the Christ? Get yourself and us out of this.
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.
one of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and us.
Word-for-word swaps
- were→criminals
- on→insulted
- be→you
- thyself→yourself
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.