Psalms 101:5 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.
Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
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.
Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I destroy: Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Whoso secretly slandereth his neighbour, him will I destroy; him that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Whoso slandereth in secret his neighbour, Him I cut off, The high of eyes and proud of heart, him I endure not.
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.
I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Who slanders their neighbor in secret, I bring them to silence: haughty looks and proud hearts I will not abide.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Who slanders their neighbour in secret, I bring them to silence: haughty looks and proud hearts I will not abide.
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.
I will put to death anyone who says evil of his neighbour secretly; the man with a high look and a heart of pride is disgusting to me.
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.
I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.
Word-for-word swaps
- not→silence
- suffer→won’t
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.