Psalms 99:6 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.
Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
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.
Moses and Aaron among his priests, And Samuel among them that call upon his name; They called upon Jehovah, and he answered them.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name: they called unto Jehovah, and *he* answered them.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Moses and Aaron among His priests, And Samuel among those proclaiming His name. They are calling unto Jehovah, And He doth answer them.
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.
Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel among those who call on his name; they called on Yahweh, and he answered them.
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.
Among his priests were Moses and Aaron, Samuel among those who called on his name. They called to the Lord, and he gave them answer.
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.
Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who gave honour to his name; they made prayers to the Lord, and he gave answers to them.
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.
Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel among those who call on his name; they called on Yahweh, and he answered them.
Word-for-word swaps
- that→those
- upon→on
- LORD→on
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.