Psalms 37:14 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.
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to slay such as be of upright conversation.
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 wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay such as are upright in the way.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the afflicted and needy, to slay those that are upright in [the] way:
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
A sword have the wicked opened, And they have trodden their bow, To cause to fall the poor and needy, To slaughter the upright of the way.
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.
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill those who are upright on the path.
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.
The wicked have drawn the sword, and bent the bow, to fell the poor, to slay those who walk uprightly;
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.
The evil-doers have taken out their swords, their bows are bent; for crushing the poor, and to put to death those who are upright in their ways.
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.
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill those who are upright on the path.
Word-for-word swaps
- of→kill
- conversation→on
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.