Luke 8:55 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 her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.
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 her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately: and he commanded that [something] be given her to eat.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And her spirit returned, and immediately she rose up; and he commanded [something] to eat to be given to her.
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 her spirit came back, and she arose presently, and he directed that there be given to her to eat;
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.
Her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately. He commanded that something be given to her to eat.
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.
The child’s spirit returned to her, and she instantly stood up; and Jesus ordered them to give her something to eat.
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.
And her spirit came back to her and she got up straight away: and he gave orders that food was to be given to her.
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.
her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately. he commanded that something be given to her to eat.
Word-for-word swaps
- again→returned
- and→rose
- meat→to
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.