Psalms 67:4 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.
O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
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.
Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For thou wilt judge the peoples with equity, And govern the nations upon earth. Selah
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Let the nations rejoice and sing for joy: for thou wilt judge the peoples equitably; and the nations upon earth, thou wilt guide them. Selah.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Rejoice and sing do nations, For Thou judgest peoples uprightly, And peoples on earth comfortest. Selah.
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.
Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the peoples with equity, and govern the nations on earth. Selah.
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.
Let the nations ring out their joy; for you govern the peoples with equity, and guide the nations on earth.Selah
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.
O let the nations be glad, and make song of joy; for you will be the judge of the peoples in righteousness, guiding the nations of the earth. (Selah.)
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.
Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for you will judge the peoples with equity, and govern the nations on earth. Selah.
Word-for-word swaps
- O→Oh
- shalt→you
- righteously→peoples
- upon→on
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.