Nahum 2:7 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.
And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.
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 it is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And it is decreed: she shall be uncovered, she shall be led away, and her maids shall moan as with the voice of doves, drumming upon their breasts.
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 it is established--she hath removed, She hath been brought up, And her handmaids are leading as the voice of doves, Tabering on their hearts.
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.
It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her servants moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.
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.
The queen is stripped, she is carried off. Her maids moan like doves, beating upon their breasts.
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.
And the queen is uncovered, she is taken away and her servant-girls are weeping like the sound of doves, hammering on their breasts.
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.
It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her servants moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.
Word-for-word swaps
- captive→It
- up→is
- lead→servants
- upon→beating
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.