Psalms 101:8 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.
I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.
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.
Morning by morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land; To cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of Jehovah. Psalm 102 A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before Jehovah.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Every morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land: to cut off all workers of iniquity from the city of Jehovah.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
At morning I cut off all the wicked of the land, To cut off from the city of Jehovah All the workers of iniquity!
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.
Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land; to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city.
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.
Morn by morn I will wholly wipe out all the bad in the land, and cut off from the Lord’s own city all workers of evil.
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.
Morning by morning will I put to death all the sinners in the land, so that all evil-doers may be cut off from Jerusalem.
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.
Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land; to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city.
Word-for-word swaps
- may→to
- city→workers
- LORD→iniquity
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.