Psalms 92:11 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.
Mine eye also shall see on mine enemies, mine ears shall hear of the wicked that rise up against me.
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.
Mine eye also hath seen [my desire] on mine enemies, Mine ears have heard [my desire] of the evil-doers that rise up against me.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And mine eye shall see [its desire] on mine enemies; mine ears shall hear [it] of the evil-doers that rise up against me.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
And mine eye looketh on mine enemies, Of those rising up against me, The evil doers, do mine ears hear.
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.
My eye has also seen my enemies. My ears have heard of the wicked enemies who rise up against me.
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.
My eyes will feast on my foes, and my ears will hear of the doom of the wicked.
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.
My eyes have seen trouble come on my haters; my ears have news of the fate of the evil-doers who have come up against me.
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.
My eye has also seen my enemies, My ears have heard of the wicked enemies who rise up against me.
Word-for-word swaps
- Mine→My
- mine→seen
- hear→have
- that→enemies
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.