Matthew 13:28 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.
He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
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 he said unto them, An enemy hath done this. And the servants say unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And he said to them, A man [that is] an enemy has done this. And the bondmen said to him, Wilt thou then that we should go and gather it [up]?
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 saith to them, A man, an enemy, did this; and the servants said to him, Wilt thou, then, that having gone away we may gather it up?
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 said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
‘An enemy has done this,’ was the owner’s answer. ‘Do you wish us, then,’ they asked, ‘to go and gather them together?’
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
“An enemy has done this,” was the owner’s answer. “Do you wish us, then,” they asked, “to go and gather them together?”
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 he said, Someone has done this in hate. And the servants say to him, Is it your pleasure that we go and take them up?
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 said to them, An enemy has done this.’ The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
Word-for-word swaps
- unto→to
- hath→has
- unto→asked
- we→Do
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.