Zephaniah 3:7 in 8 translations

I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.

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

I said, Only fear thou me; receive correction; so her dwelling shall not be cut off, [according to] all that I have appointed concerning her: but they rose early and corrupted all their doings.

1901 · Public domain · The American revision of the English Revised Version. Deliberately literal, and the base text behind several later translations.

I said, Only fear me, receive correction; so her dwelling shall not be cut off, howsoever I may punish her. But they rose early, they corrupted all their doings.

1890 · Public domain · John Nelson Darby's translation, made for close study rather than public reading. Often exposes grammatical detail other versions smooth over.

I have said: Only, ye do fear Me, Ye do accept instruction, And her habitation is not cut off, All that I have appointed for her, But they have risen early, They have corrupted all their doings.

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.

I said, “Just fear me. Receive correction, so that her dwelling won’t be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her.” But they rose early and corrupted all their doings.

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

I said: “Surely the city will fear me, she will accept instruction. Nothing will vanish from her eyes that I have impressed upon her; But the more zealously have they made all their deeds corrupt.”

in progress · Public domain (CC0) · A modern open-licensed translation, still being completed. Some Old Testament books are not yet available.

I said: ‘Surely the city will fear me, she will accept instruction. Nothing will vanish from her eyes that I have impressed upon her; But the more zealously have they made all their deeds corrupt.’

in progress · Public domain (CC0) · The Commonwealth spelling edition of the Open English Bible. Identical wording to the US edition apart from spelling.

I said, Certainly you will go in fear of me, and come under my training, so that whatever I may send on her may not be cut off before her eyes: but they got up early and made all their works evil.

1949 · Public domain · Written with roughly a thousand basic English words plus a small Bible vocabulary. The plainest reading available here.