Mark 12:40 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.
Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.
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.
they that devour widows` houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; these shall receive greater condemnation.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
who devour the houses of widows, and as a pretext make long prayers. These shall receive a severer judgment.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
who are devouring the widows' houses, and for a pretence are making long prayers; these shall receive more abundant judgment.'
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.
those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
They are the men who rob widows of their homes, and make a pretense of saying long prayers. Their sentence will be all the heavier.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
They are the men who rob widows of their homes, and make a pretence of saying long prayers. Their sentence will be all the heavier.’
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.
Who take away the property of widows, and before the eyes of men make long prayers; these will be judged more hardly.
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.
those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these will receive greater condemnation.”
Word-for-word swaps
- Which→those
- pretence→pretense
- shall→will
- damnation→condemnation
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.