Psalms 93:1 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.
The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
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.
Jehovah reigneth; he is clothed with majesty; Jehovah is clothed with strength; he hath girded himself therewith: The world also is established, that it cannot be moved.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Jehovah reigneth, he hath clothed himself with majesty: Jehovah hath clothed himself, he hath girded himself with strength; yea, the world is established, it shall not be moved.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Jehovah hath reigned, Excellency He hath put on, Jehovah put on strength, He girded Himself, Also--established is the world, unmoved.
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.
Yahweh reigns! He is clothed with majesty! Yahweh is armed with strength. The world also is established. It can’t be moved.
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.
The Lord has taken his seat on the throne, clothed with majesty, armed with might. Now the world stands firm, to be shaken no more,
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.
The Lord is King; he is clothed with glory; the Lord is clothed with strength; power is the cord of his robe; the world is fixed, so that it may not be moved.
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.
Yahweh reigns! he is clothed with majesty; Yahweh is armed with strength, the world also is established. it can’t be moved.
Word-for-word swaps
- reigneth→Yahweh
- LORD→Yahweh
- clothed→armed
- that→established
- cannot→can’t
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.