Luke 5:18 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, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought to bring him in, and to lay before 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 behold, men bring on a bed a man that was palsied: and they sought to bring him in, and to lay him before him.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And lo, men bringing upon a couch a man who was paralysed; and they sought to bring him in, and put [him] before 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 lo, men bearing upon a couch a man, who hath been struck with palsy, and they were seeking to bring him in, and to place before 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.
Behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in to lay before Jesus.
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 there some men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed. They tried to get him in and lay him before Jesus;
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
And there some men brought on a bed a man who was paralysed. They tried to get him in and lay him before Jesus;
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 some men had with them, on a bed, a man who was ill, without power of moving; and they made attempts to get him in and put him before Jesus.
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.
behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in, to lay before Jesus.
Word-for-word swaps
- a→paralyzed
- with→on
- palsy→cot
- him→Jesus
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.