KJV, BSB and WEB, side by side
Footlamp carries three translations: the King James Version, the Berean Standard Bible and the World English Bible. All three live on your device, you can switch between them without losing your place, and you can put a single verse side by side across all three before drawing a conclusion from its wording.
| King James Version | Berean Standard Bible | World English Bible | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Origin | 1611, in the form most people know since 1769 | A recent translation from the Hebrew and Greek | An update of the 1901 American Standard Version |
| Register | Early modern English — literary, familiar from memory and liturgy | Contemporary English, plain and readable | Modern English that keeps close to the older wording |
| Reads well when | You know passages by heart, or your church reads from it | You want the wording to get out of the way | You want modern English with a word-for-word feel |
| Copyright | Public domain | Public domain | Public domain |
| In the app | Full text, offline | Full text, offline | Full text, offline |
Why compare at all
Any translation is a set of decisions, and the decisions are most visible where translations diverge. Reading a verse in more than one is the cheapest way to see where a reading rests on the underlying text and where it rests on a translator’s choice of English word — which is exactly the point at which it is worth slowing down.
Here is a verse the app curates under anxiety, in all three:
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
Philippians 4:6 · KJV“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Philippians 4:6 · BSB“In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
Philippians 4:6 · WEB
“Be careful for nothing” meant “be anxious about nothing” in 1611 and means close to its opposite in casual reading today. That is not a flaw in the KJV; it is four centuries of drift in one English word, and the BSB and WEB renderings make it plain at a glance. That is the kind of thing verse compare exists to surface.
How it works in the app
- Tap a verse to open a small action card — everything you might want to do with that verse is in one place.
- Choose compare and the verse appears side by side across all three translations, in a stable order.
- Switch translation and you stay on the same verse.
- Choose Explain for a plain-words explanation of the verse — that is Explain, and it needs a connection.
Your chosen translation applies everywhere: the reader, keyword search, the topic collections and the verse of the day all follow it, so the choice is made once rather than repeated per screen.
Questions
Which translations does Footlamp include?
The King James Version, the Berean Standard Bible and the World English Bible, and no others. All three are bundled on the device.
Does Footlamp have the ESV or the NIV?
No. The three translations in the app are all in the public domain, which is what lets them be carried in full on your phone and quoted freely.
Can I switch translation without losing my place?
Yes. Switching keeps you on the same verse, so you can read a passage in another wording without hunting for your place again.
Can I see all three at once?
Yes. Tap a verse and choose compare, and the same verse is shown side by side across all three translations.
Which translation should I read?
Whichever your church, study group or memory prefers — that is what the compare screen is for. The KJV is the older, more literary text; the BSB and WEB are modern English. Reading a verse in more than one is usually more useful than choosing once.
Compare any verse, offline
All three translations bundled, free to download on iOS and Android, with nothing to download afterwards.
Free. No ads, no sign-up, no account. Android and iOS.