Luke 9:41 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 Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither.
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 Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and bear with you? bring hither thy son.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And Jesus answering said, O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and suffer you? Bring hither thy son.
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 Jesus answering said, `O generation, unstedfast and perverse, till when shall I be with you, and suffer you? bring near hither thy son;'
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.
Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
“Faithless and perverse generation!” Jesus exclaimed, “How long must I be with you and have patience with you? Lead your son here.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
‘Faithless and perverse generation!’ Jesus exclaimed, ‘How long must I be with you and have patience with you? Lead your son here.’
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 Jesus said, O generation without faith and false in heart, how long will I have to be with you and put up with you? let your son come here.
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.
Jesus answered, faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and bear with you? Bring your son here.”
Word-for-word swaps
- O→answered
- suffer→bear
- thy→your
- hither→here
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.