Psalms 39:4 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.
LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it I may know how frail I
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.
Jehovah, make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; Let me know how frail I am.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Make me to know, Jehovah, mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: I shall know how frail I am.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
`Cause me to know, O Jehovah, mine end, And the measure of my days--what it is,' I know how frail I am.
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, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
“Teach me, O Lord, my end, and the sum of my days what it is. Let me know how transient I am.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
‘Teach me, O Lord, my end, and the sum of my days what it is. Let me know how transient I am.
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.
Lord, give me knowledge of my end, and of the measure of my days, so that I may see how feeble I am.
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, show me my end, what is the measure of my days, Let me know how frail I am.
Word-for-word swaps
- make→Yahweh
- mine→my
- and→what
- may→Let
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.