Mark 5:16 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 they that saw told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and concerning the swine.
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 saw it declared unto them how it befell him that was possessed with demons, and concerning the swine.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And they that had seen [it] related to them how it had happened to the [man] possessed by demons, and concerning the swine.
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 having seen it, declared to them how it had come to pass to the demoniac, and about the swine;
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 saw it declared to them what happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs.
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.
Then those who had seen it related to them all that had happened to the possessed man, as well as about the pigs;
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 those who had seen it gave them an account of what had been done to him who had the evil spirits, and of the fate of the pigs.
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 saw it declared to them what happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs.
Word-for-word swaps
- that→Those
- befell→declared
- that→who
- devil→by
- concerning→about
- swine→pigs
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.