Revelation 9:18 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.
By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
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.
By these three plagues was the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
By these three plagues were the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which goes out of their mouths.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
by these three were the third of men killed, from the fire, and from the smoke, and from the brimstone, that is proceeding out of their mouth,
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.
By these three plagues were one third of mankind killed: by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur, which proceeded out of their mouths.
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Through these three curses a third of humanity perished – because of the fire, and the smoke, and the sulfur that issued from their mouths;
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Through these three curses a third of humanity perished – because of the fire, and the smoke, and the sulphur that issued from their mouths;
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.
By these evils a third part of men was put to death, by the fire, and the smoke, and the burning smell which came out of their mouths.
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.
By these three plagues were one third of mankind killed, by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur, which proceeded out of their mouths.
Word-for-word swaps
- the→plagues
- men→mankind
- brimstone→sulfur
- issued→proceeded
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.