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Reading the older English

The Modern-Spelling edition updates the spelling but keeps the translators’ own English: the old pronouns, the -eth/-est verb endings, and a handful of words that have since fallen out of everyday use. None of it is hard once it is familiar; this short guide gives the plain modern equivalents. (Harder or misleading words are clarified right where they occur: the faintly underlined words in the text, which you can turn off under ⋯ → Clarifications.)

Older forms

thou
you (one person)
thee
you (object, “to thee”)
thy / thine
your / yours
ye
you (more than one)
art
are
hast / hath
have / has
doth
does
saith
says
wilt / shalt
will / shall
wouldst / couldst / shouldst
would / could / should
-eth (loveth, raineth)
-s (loves, rains)
-est (lovest, knowest)
(you) love, know

Common words

whence
from where; from which
thence
from there
hence
from here; therefore
whither
to where
thither
to there
hither
here; to here
whithersoever
to wherever; to whatever place
wherefore
why; and therefore
thereof
of it; of that
therein
in it; in that
thereby
by that means
whereof
of which
wherein
in which
whereupon
upon which; at which
peradventure
perhaps; it may be
betimes
early; in good time
fain
gladly; willingly
durst
dared
anon
soon; at once
nigh
near
save / saving
except
howbeit
however; nevertheless
forasmuch as
since; because
twain
two
suffer
allow; permit (“suffer the children”)
want
lack; be without
wax
grow; become
wont
accustomed; in the habit of

A note on the names

Names follow the Latin Vulgate: Moyses (Moses), Noe (Noah), Henoch (Enoch), Elias (Elijah), Isaias (Isaiah), the forms long used in the Church’s liturgy and kept by the translators. See About this edition for why.

A word kept its old form for a reason, often it tracks the Latin more closely than a modern paraphrase would. See About this edition for why.

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