Translation comparison

Wisdom of Solomon 18:22 in 2 translations

2 distinct wordings, grouped by what each translation is trying to do. Differences from the King James text are marked below.

Read with nearby context Open chapter 18

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

So he overcame the destroyer, not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but with a word subdued him that punished, alleging the oaths and covenants made with the fathers.

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

Modern English

Contemporary vocabulary and punctuation, aiming for the sentence a present-day reader would write while staying close to the source.

World English Bible

WEB

And he overcame the anger, Not by strength of body, not by efficacy of weapons; But by word did he subdue the minister of punishment, By bringing to remembrance oaths and covenants made with the fathers.

2000s · Public domain · A modern-English update of the ASV. Reads close to contemporary speech while staying in the literal tradition. Includes the Apocrypha.

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 he overcame the anger, not by strength of body, not by efficacy of weapons; but by word did he subdue the minister of punishment, By bringing to remembrance oaths and covenants made with the fathers.

Word-for-word swaps

So→And
destroyer→anger
with→by
force→not
arms→weapons
a→by

The verses either side

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

21For then the blameless man made haste, and stood forth to defend them; and bringing the shield of his proper ministry, even prayer, and the propitiation of incense, set himself against the wrath, and so brought the calamity to an end, declaring that he was thy servant.

22So he overcame the destroyer, not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but with a word subdued him that punished, alleging the oaths and covenants made with the fathers.

23For when the dead were now fallen down by heaps one upon another, standing between, he stayed the wrath, and parted the way to the living.

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