Psalms 140:10 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.
Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again.
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.
Let burning coals fall upon them: Let them be cast into the fire, Into deep pits, whence they shall not rise.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Let burning coals fall on them; let them be cast into the fire; into deep waters, that they rise not up again.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
They cause to fall on themselves burning coals, Into fire He doth cast them, Into deep pits--they arise 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.
Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise.
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.
may he rain upon them coals of fire, may he strike them down swiftly, to rise no more,
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.
Let burning flames come down on them: let them be put into the fire, and into deep waters, so that they may not get up again.
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.
Let burning coals fall on them: let them be thrown into the fire; into miry pits, from where they never rise
Word-for-word swaps
- upon→on
- cast→thrown
- deep→miry
- that→from
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.