Mark 5:38 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 he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
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 come to the house of the ruler of the synagogue; and he beholdeth a tumult, and [many] weeping and wailing greatly.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And he comes to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and sees the tumult, and people weeping and wailing greatly.
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 he cometh to the house of the chief of the synagogue, and seeth a tumult, much weeping and wailing;
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.
He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.
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.
Presently they reached the leader’s house, where Jesus saw a scene of confusion – people weeping and wailing incessantly.
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 they came to the house of the ruler of the Synagogue; and he saw people running this way and that, and weeping and crying loudly.
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.
he came to the synagogue, ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.
Word-for-word swaps
- cometh→came
- tumult→ruler’s
- wept→he
- greatly→great
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.