Revelation 12:15 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.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
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.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth behind the woman water as a river, that he might make her be [as] one carried away by a river.
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 the serpent did cast forth after the woman, out of his mouth, water as a river, that he may cause her to be carried away by the river,
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.
The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream.
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.
Then the snake poured water from its mouth after the woman, like a river, so that it might sweep her away.
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.
And the snake sent out of his mouth after the woman a river of water, so that she might be taken away by the stream.
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.
the serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman, like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream.
Word-for-word swaps
- cast→spewed
- of→by
- flood→stream
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.