Matthew 25:27 in 8 translations
7 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.
Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
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.
thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
thou oughtest then to have put my money to the money-changers, and when I came I should have got what is mine with interest.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
it behoved thee then to put my money to the money-lenders, and having come I had received mine own with increase.
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.
You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest.
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 2 editions word this verse identically.
Then you ought to have placed my money in the hands of bankers, and I, on my return, should have received my money, with interest.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Simplified English
Built from a deliberately small vocabulary so the sense stays reachable for new readers and non-native speakers. Trades nuance for clarity.
Why, then, did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I would have got back what is mine with interest?
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.
You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest.
Word-for-word swaps
- oughtest→You
- put→deposited
- to→with
- exchangers→bankers
- mine→back
- usury→interest
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.