Psalms 45:9 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.
Kings’ daughters among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
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.
Kings` daughters are among thy honorable women: At thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Kings' daughters are among thine honourable women; upon thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Daughters of kings are among thy precious ones, A queen hath stood at thy right hand, In pure gold of Ophir.
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.
Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women. At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir.
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.
King’s daughters stand ready with jewels for you, at your right hand the queen in gold of Ophir.
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.
Kings' daughters are among your noble women: on your right is the queen in gold of Ophir.
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.
Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women: At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir.
Word-for-word swaps
- honourable→your
- thy→At
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.