Matthew 1:16 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 Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
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 Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
and Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
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 Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was begotten Jesus, who is named Christ.
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.
Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Jacob of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus, who is called ‘Christ’.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Jacob of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus, who is called “Christ”.
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 the son of Jacob was Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus, whose name is Christ.
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.
Jacob became the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Word-for-word swaps
- begat→became
- of→from
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.