Psalms 79:10 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.
Wherefore should the heathen say, Where their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight the revenging of the blood of thy servants shed.
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.
Wherefore should the nations say, Where is their God? Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed Be known among the nations in our sight.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Wherefore should the nations say, Where is their God? Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants that is shed be known among the nations in our sight.
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 the nations say, `Where is their God?' Let be known among the nations before our eyes, The vengeance of the blood of Thy servants that is shed.
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 should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let revenge for the outpoured blood of your servants be shown on the heathen before our eyes.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Let revenge for the outpoured blood of your servants be shown on the heathen before our eyes.
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.
Why may the nations say, Where is their God? Let payment for the blood of your servants be made openly among the nations before our eyes.
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 should the nations say, Where is their God? let it be known among the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out.
Word-for-word swaps
- Wherefore→Why
- heathen→nations
- him→it
- in→nations
- the→eyes
- shed→is
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.