Luke 7:21 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 in that same hour he cured many of infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many blind he gave sight.
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.
In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and on many that were blind he bestowed sight.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
In that hour he healed many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and to many blind he granted sight.
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 in that hour he cured many from sicknesses, and plagues, and evil spirits, and to many blind he granted sight.
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.
In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight.
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.
At that very time Jesus had cured many people of diseases, afflictions, and wicked spirits, and had given many blind people their sight.
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.
At that time, he made a number of people free from their diseases and their pains, and from evil spirits; and to others who were blind he gave back the use of their eyes.
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.
in that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues, and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight.
Word-for-word swaps
- infirmities→diseases
- unto→to
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.