Matthew 15:17 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.
Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
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.
Perceive ye not, that whatsoever goeth into the mouth passeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Do ye not yet apprehend, that everything that enters into the mouth finds its way into the belly, and is cast forth into the draught?
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
do ye not understand that all that is going into the mouth doth pass into the belly, and into the drain is cast forth?
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.
Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly, and then out of the body?
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
“Don’t you see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is afterward expelled?
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
‘Don’t you see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is afterwards expelled?
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.
Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth goes on into the stomach, and is sent out as waste?
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.
Don’t you understand, that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly, and then out of the body?
Word-for-word swaps
- yet→Don’t
- at→whatever
- goeth→passes
- cast→then
- into→of
- draught→body
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.