Mark 10:15 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.
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
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.
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Verily I say to you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter into it.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
verily I say to you, whoever may not receive the reign of God, as a child--he may not enter into it;'
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.
Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
I tell you, unless a person receives the kingdom of God like a child, they will not enter it at all.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
I tell you, unless a person receives the kingdom of God like a child, they will not enter it at all.’
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.
Truly I say to you, Whoever does not put himself under the kingdom of God like a little child, will not come into it at all.
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.
Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”
Word-for-word swaps
- Verily→Most
- unto→tell
- shall→whoever
- the→God’s
- as→like
- not→will
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.