Mark 5:33 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.
But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
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.
But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
But the woman, frightened and trembling, knowing what had taken place in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
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 the woman, having been afraid, and trembling, knowing what was done on her, came, and fell down before him, and told him all the truth,
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.
But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
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 the woman, in fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and threw herself down before him, and told him the whole truth.
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.
The woman, shaking with fear, conscious of what had been done to her, came and, falling on her face before him, gave him a true account of everything.
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.
But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
Word-for-word swaps
- was→had
- in→to
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.