Psalms 145:21 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.
My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
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.
My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah; And let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever. Psalm 146
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah; and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
The praise of Jehovah my mouth speaketh, And all flesh doth bless His holy name, To the age and for ever!
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.
My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh. Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
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.
My mouth will utter the praise of the Lord, and all life will bless his holy name for ever and ever.
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.
My mouth will give praise to the Lord; let all flesh be blessing his holy name for ever and ever.
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.
My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh. let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
Word-for-word swaps
- shall→will
- and→Yahweh
- ever→forever
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.