Revelation 15:3 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.
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true thy ways, thou King of saints.
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 they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
And they sing the song of Moses bondman of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful [are] thy works, Lord God Almighty; righteous and true [are] thy ways, O King of nations.
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 they sing the song of Moses, servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, `Great and wonderful are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty, righteous and true are Thy ways, O King of saints,
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.
They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
They are singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb – ‘Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord, our God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, eternal King.
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
They are singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb – “Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord, our God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, eternal King.
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.
And they give the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and full of wonder are your works, O Lord God, Ruler of all; true and full of righteousness are your ways, eternal King.
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.
they sang the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God the Almighty; Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations.
Word-for-word swaps
- sing→sang
- thy→marvelous
- just→Righteous
- thy→are
- thou→you
- saints→the
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.