Luke 4:14 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 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
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 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and a fame went out concerning him through all the region round about.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee; and a rumour went out into the whole surrounding country about him;
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 Jesus turned back in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a fame went forth through all the region round about concerning him,
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.
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area.
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.
Moved by the power of the Spirit, Jesus returned to Galilee. Reports about him spread through all that region;
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 Jesus came back to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news of him went through all the country round about.
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.
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and news about him spread through all the surrounding area.
Word-for-word swaps
- of→news
- about→surrounding
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.