Romans 14:23 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 he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because not of faith: for whatsoever not of faith is sin.
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.
But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because [he eateth] not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
But he that doubts, if he eat, is condemned; because [it is] not of faith; but whatever [is] not of faith is sin.
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 he who is making a difference, if he may eat, hath been condemned, because it is not of faith; and all that is not of faith is sin.
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.
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.
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.
The person, however, who has misgivings stands condemned if they still eat, because their doing so is not the result of faith. And anything not done as the result of faith is a sin.
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.
But he who is in doubt is judged if he takes food, because he does it not in faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.
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.
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith: and whatever is not of faith is sin.
Word-for-word swaps
- And→But
- doubteth→who
- damned→condemned
- eat→eats
- not→it
- whatsoever→and
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.