Mark 15:20 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.
And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.
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 when they had mocked him, they took off from him the purple, and put on him his garments. And they lead him out to crucify him.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, and put his own clothes on him; and they lead him out that they may crucify him.
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 when they had mocked him, they took the purple from off him, and clothed him in his own garments, and they led him forth, that they may crucify him.
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.
When they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, and put his own garments on him. They led him out to crucify him.
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.
and, when they had left off mocking him, they took off the purple robe, and put his own clothes on him.
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.
And when they had made sport of him, they took the purple robe off him and put his clothing on him. And they took him out to put him to death on the cross.
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.
when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, and put his own garments on him, They led him out to crucify him.
Word-for-word swaps
- from→off
- clothes→garments
- and→They
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.