Mark 1:4 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.
John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
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.
John came, who baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
There came John baptising in the wilderness, and preaching [the] baptism of repentance for remission of sins.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
John came baptizing in the wilderness, and proclaiming a baptism of reformation--to remission of sins,
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.
John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins.
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.
John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism on repentance, for the forgiveness of sins.
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.
John came, and gave baptism in the waste land, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed.
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.
John came baptizing in the wilderness, and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins.
Word-for-word swaps
- baptize→came
- preach→preaching
- remission→forgiveness
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.