Mark 5:14 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 they that fed the swine fled, and told in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
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 they that fed them fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they came to see what it was that had come to pass.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And those that were feeding them fled and reported it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had taken place.
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 those feeding the swine did flee, and told in the city, and in the fields, and they came forth to see what it is that hath been done;
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 fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Then the men who tended them ran away, and carried the news to the town, and to the country around; and the people went to see what had happened.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Then the men who tended them ran away, and carried the news to the town, and to the country round; and the people went to see what had happened.
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 their keepers went running and gave an account of it in the town and in the country. And people came to see what had taken place.
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 fed them fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened.
Word-for-word swaps
- that→Those
- swine→them
- out→The
- done→had
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.