Psalms 68:16 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.
Why leap ye, ye high hills? the hill God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell for ever.
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.
Why look ye askance, ye high mountains, At the mountain which God hath desired for his abode? Yea, Jehovah will dwell [in it] for ever.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Why do ye look with envy, ye many-peaked mountains, upon the mount that God hath desired for his abode? yea, Jehovah will dwell [there] for ever.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Why do ye envy, O high hills, The hill God hath desired for His seat? Jehovah also doth tabernacle for ever.
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.
Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign? Yes, Yahweh will dwell there forever.
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.
You high-peaked mountains, why look you askance at the mountain which God has desired for his home whereon the Lord will live forever?
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.
Why are you looking with envy, you high hills, on the hill desired by God as his resting-place? truly, God will make it his house for ever.
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.
Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign? Yes, Yahweh will dwell there forever.
Word-for-word swaps
- hills→do
- hill→mountain
- desireth→chooses
- LORD→reign
- ever→there
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.