Luke 4:36 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 they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
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 amazement came upon all, and they spake together, one with another, saying, What is this word? for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And astonishment came upon all, and they spoke to one another, saying, What word [is] this? for with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.
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 amazement came upon all, and they were speaking together, with one another, saying, `What is this word, that with authority and power he doth command the unclean spirits, and they come forth?'
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.
Amazement came on all, and they spoke together, one with another, saying, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
And they were all lost in amazement, and kept saying to one another, “What words are these? For he gives his commands to the foul spirits with a marvelous authority, and they come out.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
And they were all lost in amazement, and kept saying to one another, ‘What words are these? For he gives his commands to the foul spirits with a marvellous authority, and they come out.’
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 wonder came on them all and they said to one another, What are these words? for with authority and power he gives orders to the evil spirits and they come out.
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.
Amazement came on all and they spoke together, one with another, saying, What is this! word? for with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.
Word-for-word swaps
- were→Amazement
- themselves→they
- word→is
- commandeth→commands
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.