Matthew 12:20 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.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
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.
A bruised reed shall he not break, And smoking flax shall he not quench, Till he send forth judgment unto victory.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, until he bring forth judgment unto victory;
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
a bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench, till he may put forth judgment to victory,
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 won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a smoking flax, until he leads justice to victory.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he has brought the judgment to a victorious issue,
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
a bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not quench, until he has brought the judgment to a victorious issue,
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.
The crushed stem will not be broken by him; and the feebly burning light will he not put out, till he has made righteousness overcome all.
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 won’t break A bruised reed he won’t quench a smoking flax until he leads justice to victory.
Word-for-word swaps
- and→won’t
- till→until
- unto→leads
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.