Psalms 40:2 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.
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, established my goings.
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.
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay; And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And he brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock; he hath established my goings:
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
And He doth cause me to come up From a pit of desolation--from mire of mud, And He raiseth up on a rock my feet, He is establishing my steps.
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.
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.
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.
From the horrible pit he drew me, up out of the miry clay; he set my feet on a rock, and my steps he made firm.
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.
He took me up out of a deep waste place, out of the soft and sticky earth; he put my feet on a rock, and made my steps certain.
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.
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.
Word-for-word swaps
- an→a
- and→He
- upon→on
- goings→and
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.