Titus 2:8 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.
Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
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.
sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of us.
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
a sound word, not to be condemned; that he who is opposed may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us:
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
discourse sound, irreprehensible, that he who is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say concerning you.
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.
and soundness of speech that can’t be condemned; that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us.
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.
let the instruction that you give be sound and above reproach, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed when they fail to find anything bad to say about us.
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.
Saying true and right words, against which no protest may be made, so that he who is not on our side may be put to shame, unable to say any evil of us.
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.
and soundness of speech, that can’t be condemned; that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us.
Word-for-word swaps
- Sound→and
- cannot→can’t
- part→who
- you→about
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.