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Comparing the Wycliffe Bible vs the KJV


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It seems to me that the differences between the Wycliffe Bible and the KJV really showcases how fast and radical the shift from Middle English to Early Modern English was. What do you guys think?

1 In the bigynnyng God made of nouyt heuene and erthe.

2 Forsothe the erthe was idel and voide, and derknessis weren on the face of depthe; and the Spiryt of the Lord was borun on the watris.

3 And God seide, Liyt be maad, and liyt was maad.

4 And God seiy the liyt, that it was good, and he departide the liyt fro derknessis; and he clepide the liyt,

5 dai, and the derknessis, nyyt. And the euentid and morwetid was maad, o daie.

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

1 And Jhesus answeride, and spak eftsoone in parablis to hem,

2 and seide, The kyngdom of heuenes is maad lijk to a kyng that made weddyngis to his sone.

3 And he sente hise seruauntis for to clepe men that weren bode to the weddyngis, and thei wolden not come.

4 Eftsoone he sente othere seruauntis, and seide, Seie ye to the men that ben bode to the feeste, Lo! Y haue maad redi my meete, my bolis and my volatilis ben slayn, and alle thingis ben redy; come ye to the weddyngis.

5 But thei dispisiden, and wenten forth, oon in to his toun, anothir to his marchaundise. But othere helden his seruauntis, and turmentiden hem, and slowen.

7 But the kyng, whanne he hadde herd, was wroth; and he sente hise oostis, and he distruyede tho manquelleris, and brente her citee.

8 Thanne he seide to hise seruauntis, The weddyngis ben redi, but thei that weren clepid to the feeste, weren not worthi.

9 Therfor go ye to the endis of weies, and whom euere ye fynden, clepe ye to the weddyngis.

10 And hise seruauntis yeden out in to weies, and gadriden togider alle that thei founden, good and yuele; and the bridale was fulfillid with men sittynge at the mete.

11 And the kyng entride, to se men sittynge at the mete; and he siye there a man not clothid with bride cloth.

22 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

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Wycliffe uses the world sle instead of murder or kill. I wonder what connotation it had at the time.

13 Thou schalt not sle.

This bring up the point that kill is not the best word to use. Murder gets the meaning across better but I still think it's unsatisfactory. Murder merely means unlawful killing and there are just murders and unjust killings.

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