Psalms 123:2 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.
Behold, as the eyes of servants unto the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
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.
Behold, as the eyes of servants [look] unto the hand of their master, As the eyes of a maid unto the hand of her mistress; So our eyes [look] unto Jehovah our God, Until he have mercy upon us.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Behold, as the eyes of servants [look] unto the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes [are directed] to Jehovah our God, until he be gracious unto 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.
Lo, as eyes of men-servants Are unto the hand of their masters, As eyes of a maid-servant Are unto the hand of her mistress, So are our eyes unto Jehovah our God, Till that He doth favour 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, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes look to Yahweh, our God, until he has mercy on us.
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.
As the eyes of a servant turn to the hand of his master, or the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so do our eyes turn to the Lord our God, until he is gracious to us.
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.
See! as the eyes of servants are turned to the hands of their masters, and the eyes of a servant-girl to her owner, so our eyes are waiting for the Lord our God, till he has mercy on us.
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, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes look to Yahweh, our God, until he has mercy on us.
Word-for-word swaps
- unto→look
- masters→master
- unto→maid
- LORD→look
- have→has
- upon→on
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.