Malachi 1:5 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 your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.
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 your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, Jehovah be magnified beyond the border of Israel.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And your eyes shall see [it], and ye shall say, Jehovah is magnified beyond the border of Israel.
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 your eyes do see, and ye say, `Magnified is Jehovah beyond the border of Israel,
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.
Your eyes will see, and you will say, “Yahweh is great—even beyond the border of Israel!”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Your own eyes will see this, and you will say, ‘the Lord’s greatness reaches beyond the border of Israel.’”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Your own eyes will see this, and you will say, “the Lord’s greatness reaches beyond the border of Israel.”’
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 your eyes will see it; and you will say, The Lord is great even outside the limits of Israel.
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.
your eyes will see, and you will say, “Yahweh is great—even beyond the border of Israel.
Word-for-word swaps
- shall→will
- LORD→you
- from→say
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.