Luke 8:39 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.
Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto 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.
Return to thy house, and declare how great things God hath done for thee. And he went his way, publishing throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done for him.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Return to thine house and relate how great things God has done for thee. And he went away through the whole city, publishing how great things Jesus had done for 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.
`Turn back to thy house, and tell how great things God did to thee;' and he went away through all the city proclaiming how great things Jesus did to 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.
“Return to your house, and declare what great things God has done for you.” He went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for 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.
“Go back to your home,” he said, “and relate the story of all that God has done for you.” So the man went through the whole town and proclaimed, as he went, all that Jesus had done for him.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
‘Go back to your home,’ he said, ‘and relate the story of all that God has done for you.’ So the man went through the whole town and proclaimed, as he went, all that Jesus had done for him.
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.
Go back to your house and let them have news of all the great things which God has done for you. And he went away, giving word through all the town of the great things which Jesus had done for 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.
Return to your house, and declare what great things God has done for you.” he went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
Word-for-word swaps
- own→your
- how→declare
- hath→has
- And→for
- published→proclaiming
- how→what
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.