Psalms 70:4 in 8 translations
8 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.
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.
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.
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; And let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Let all those that seek thee be glad and rejoice in thee, and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified!
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Let all those seeking Thee joy and be glad in Thee, And let those loving Thy salvation Say continually, `God is magnified.'
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.
Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation continually say, “Let God be exalted!”
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
But may all who seek after you rejoice and be glad in you. May all who love your salvation say, “Glory to God,” evermore.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
But may all who seek after you rejoice and be glad in you. May all who love your salvation say, ‘Glory to God,’ evermore.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · The Commonwealth spelling edition of the Open English Bible. Identical wording to the US edition apart from spelling.
Simplified English
Built from a deliberately small vocabulary so the sense stays reachable for new readers and non-native speakers. Trades nuance for clarity.
Let all those who are looking for you be glad and have joy in you; let the lovers of your salvation ever say, May God be great.
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.
Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. let those who love your salvation continually, say, Let God be exalted!”
Word-for-word swaps
- that→who
- thee→you
- and→you
- as→those
- thy→your
- magnified→exalted
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.