Bible Verses
Translation comparison

Sirach 4:17 in 1 translation

Every translation here words this verse identically, which is itself worth knowing — there is no interpretive fork to weigh.

Early modern English

Seventeenth-century wording and sentence shape. Familiar, rhythmic, and the version most quotations you have heard are taken from.

King James Version
KJV

For at the first she will walk with him by crooked ways, and bring fear and dread upon him, and torment him with her discipline, until she may trust his soul, and try him by her laws.

1611 / 1769 · Public domain · The Authorised Version, revised to the 1769 Blayney text. Includes the Apocrypha as printed in 1611.

The verses either side

King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.

16If a man commit himself unto her, he shall inherit her; and his generation shall hold her in possession.
17For at the first she will walk with him by crooked ways, and bring fear and dread upon him, and torment him with her discipline, until she may trust his soul, and try him by her laws.
18Then will she return the straight way unto him, and comfort him, and shew him her secrets.

Not shown for this verse: American Standard Version, Darby Bible, Young's Literal Translation, World English Bible, Open English Bible (US), Open English Bible (Commonwealth), Bible in Basic English. Most modern translations do not include the Apocrypha.