Psalms 29:9 in 8 translations
8 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.
The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of glory.
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.
The voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds to calve, And strippeth the forests bare: And in his temple everything saith, Glory.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
The voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds to calve, and layeth bare the forests; and in his temple doth every one say, Glory!
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 voice of Jehovah paineth the oaks, And maketh bare the forests, And in His temple every one saith, `Glory.'
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.
Yahweh’s voice makes the deer calve, and strips the forests bare. In his temple everything says, “Glory!”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
The Lord’s voice whirls the oaks, and strips the forests bare; and all in his temple say “Glory.”
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
The Lord’s voice whirls the oaks, and strips the forests bare; and all in his temple say ‘Glory.’
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · The Commonwealth spelling edition of the Open English Bible. Identical wording to the US edition apart from spelling.
Simplified English
Built from a deliberately small vocabulary so the sense stays reachable for new readers and non-native speakers. Trades nuance for clarity.
At the voice of the Lord the roes give birth, the leaves are taken from the trees: in his Temple everything says, Glory.
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.
Yahweh’s voice makes the deer calve, and strips the forests: bare. in his temple everything says, glory.
Word-for-word swaps
- The→Yahweh’s
- maketh→makes
- to→deer
- discovereth→strips
- and→bare
- of→everything
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.