Psalms 27:2 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.
When the wicked, mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
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.
When evil-doers came upon me to eat up my flesh, [Even] mine adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
When evil-doers, mine adversaries and mine enemies, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
When evil doers come near to me to eat my flesh, My adversaries and mine enemies to me, They have stumbled and fallen.
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.
When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.
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.
When the wicked drew near to assail me and eat up my flesh, it was those who distressed and opposed me who stumbled and fell.
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.
When evil-doers, even my haters, came on me to put an end to me, they were broken and put to shame.
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.
When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.
Word-for-word swaps
- foes→evildoers
- upon→at
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.