Luke 24:41 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 while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
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 while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here anything to eat?
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
But while they yet did not believe for joy, and were wondering, he said to them, Have ye anything here to eat?
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 while they are not believing from the joy, and wondering, he said to them, `Have ye anything here to eat?'
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.
While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
While they were still unable to believe it all, overcome with joy, and were wondering if it were true, Jesus said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
While they were still unable to believe it all, overcome with joy, and were wondering if it were true, Jesus said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’
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 because, for joy and wonder, they were still in doubt, he said to them, Have you any food here?
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.
while they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you Have anything here to eat?”
Word-for-word swaps
- not→still
- unto→to
- ye→anything
- meat→to
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.