Matthew 20:4 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 said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
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 to them he said, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
and to them he said, Go also ye into the vineyard, and whatsoever may be just I will give you. And they went their way.
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 to these he said, Go ye--also ye--to the vineyard, and whatever may be righteous I will give you;
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, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
‘You also may go into my vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay you what is fair.’
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
“You also may go into my vineyard,” he said, “and I will pay you what is fair.”
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 to them, Go into the vine-garden with the others, and whatever is right I will give you. And they went to work.
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; ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way.
Word-for-word swaps
- And→He
- unto→to
- ye→You
- whatsoever→whatever
- And→you
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.