Luke 5:13 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 he put forth hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.
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 he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway the leprosy departed from him.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And stretching forth his hand he touched him, saying, I will; be thou cleansed: and immediately the leprosy departed from 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 having stretched forth his hand, he touched him, having said, `I will; be thou cleansed;' and immediately the leprosy went away from 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.
He stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying as he did so, “I am willing; become clean.” Instantly the leprosy left the man;
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying as he did so, ‘I am willing; become clean.’ Instantly the leprosy left the man;
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 he put out his hand to him and said, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away his disease went from him.
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.
he stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, I want to. be made clean. immediately the leprosy left him.
Word-for-word swaps
- forth→stretched
- will→want
- thou→made
- from→left
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.