Psalms 35:19 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 not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
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 not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Let not them that are wrongfully mine enemies rejoice over me; let them not wink with the eye that hate me without cause.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Mine enemies rejoice not over me with falsehood, Those hating me without cause wink the eye.
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.
Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.
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.
Suffer not those to rejoice over me who are falsely my foes, suffer not those who without cause abhor me to wink with the eye.
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.
Do not let my haters be glad over me falsely; let not those who are against me without cause make sport of me.
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.
Don’t Let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let those who hate me without a cause. wink their eyes.
Word-for-word swaps
- that→those
- mine→my
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.