Psalms 46:2 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.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
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.
Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change, And though the mountains be shaken into the heart of the seas;
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Therefore will we not fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the heart of the seas;
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Therefore we fear not in the changing of earth, And in the slipping of mountains Into the heart of the seas.
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.
Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
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.
So we have no fear, though earth should change, and the hills totter into the heart of the ocean.
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.
For this cause we will have no fear, even though the earth is changed, and though the mountains are moved in the heart of the sea;
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.
Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
Word-for-word swaps
- fear→won’t
- and→changes
- carried→are
- midst→heart
- sea→seas
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.