Matthew 8:29 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, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
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 behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Son of God? hast thou come here before the time to torment us?
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 lo, they cried out, saying, `What--to us and to thee, Jesus, Son of God? didst thou come hither, before the time, to afflict us?'
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.
Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Suddenly they shrieked out, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before our time?”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Suddenly they shrieked out, ‘What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before our time?’
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 they gave a loud cry, saying, What have we to do with you, you Son of God? Have you come here to give us punishment before the time?
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.
behold, they cried out, saying, What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?
Word-for-word swaps
- have→do
- thee→you
- thou→Have
- hither→here
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.