Titus 3:1 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.
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
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.
Put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready unto every good work,
1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.
Put them in mind to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient to rule, to be ready to do every good work,
1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.
Remind them to be subject to principalities and authorities, to obey rule, unto every good work to be ready,
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.
Remind them to be in subjection to rulers and to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.
Remind them to respect and obey the rulers and authorities, to be ready for every kind of good work, to slander no one, to avoid quarreling,
in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.
Remind them to respect and obey the rulers and authorities, to be ready for every kind of good work, to slander no one, to avoid quarrelling,
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.
Make clear to them that they are to put themselves under rulers and authorities, to do what they are ordered, to be ready for every good work,
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.
Remind them to be in subjection to rulers and to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
Word-for-word swaps
- Put→Remind
- subject→in
- principalities→rulers
- magistrates→authorities
- ready→obedient
The verses either side
King James text. A comparison is easier to judge when you can see the sentence the verse sits inside.