Romans 11:18 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.
Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
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.
glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
boast not against the branches; but if thou boast, [it is] not *thou* bearest the root, but the root thee.
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
do not boast against the branches; and if thou dost boast, thou dost not bear the root, but the root thee!
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.
don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.
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.
Yet do not exult over the other branches. But, if you do exult over them, remember that you do not support the root, but that the root supports you.
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.
Do not be uplifted in pride over the branches: because it is not you who are the support of the root, but it is by the root that you are supported.
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.
don’t Boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.
Word-for-word swaps
- against→over
- thou→you
- bearest→it
- thee→supports
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.