Psalms 143:10 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.
Teach me to do thy will; for thou my God: thy spirit good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
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.
Teach me to do thy will; For thou art my God: Thy Spirit is good; Lead me in the land of uprightness.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: let thy good Spirit lead me in a plain country.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Teach me to do Thy good pleasure, For Thou art my God--Thy Spirit is good, Lead me into a land of uprightness.
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.
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
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.
Teach me to do your will, for you yourself are my God. Guide me by your good spirit, O Lord, on a way that is smooth.
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.
Give me teaching so that I may do your pleasure; for you are my God: let your good Spirit be my guide into the land of righteousness.
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.
Teach me to do your will; for you are my God: Your spirit is good; lead me in the land of uprightness.
Word-for-word swaps
- thy→your
- thou→you
- into→in
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.