Luke 9:44 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.
Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.
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.
Let these words sink into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered up into the hands of men.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Do *ye* let these words sink into your ears. For the Son of man is about to be delivered into men's hands.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
`Lay ye to your ears these words, for the Son of Man is about to be delivered up to the hands of men.'
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.
“Let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men.”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
“Listen carefully to my words. For the Son of Man is destined to be betrayed into the hands of his fellow men.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
‘Listen carefully to my words. For the Son of Man is destined to be betrayed into the hands of his fellow men.’
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.
Let these words go deep into your ears, for the Son of man will be given up into the hands of men.
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.
Let these words sink into your ears: for the Son of man will be delivered up into the hands of men.
Word-for-word swaps
- sayings→words
- shall→will
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.