Matthew 15:20 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.
These are which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
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.
these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not the man.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
these are the things which defile man; but the eating with unwashen hands does not defile man.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
these are the things defiling the man; but to eat with unwashen hands doth not defile the man.'
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.
These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands doesn’t defile the man.”
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 are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
These are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.’
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.
These are the things which make a man unclean; but to take food with unwashed hands does not make a man unclean.
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.
These are the things which defile the man: but to eat with unwashed hands doesn’t defile the man.
Word-for-word swaps
- a→the
- unwashen→unwashed
- a→doesn’t
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.