New Revised Standard Version

The PCUSA and Fairmount commend the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible as the most thorough, accurate and scholarly translation available. Unless otherwise noted, all passages quoted or linked to from this blog will be from the NRSV (possibly from the anglicized version).

The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) first appeared in 1989, and has received wide acclaim and broad support from academics and church leaders as a Bible for all Christians.

[New Revised Standard Version From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]
The NRSV was translated by the Division of Christian Education (now Bible Translation and Utilization) of the National Council of Churches, an ecumenical Christian group. There has also been Jewish representation in the group responsible for the Old Testament.^[1] This translation is meant to replace the Revised Standard Version, and to identify it in context with the many other English language translations available today. It is called the New Revised Standard Version because it is a revision of the Revised Standard Version of 1952.

Many of the older “mainline” Protestant churches officially accept the NRSV or commend it to their members. The Episcopal Church added the NRSV to the list of translations in Canon II.2 which are approved for reading in church services, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) website commends the translation. It is also widely used by The United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the United Church of Christ, the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Canada.

There are three editions of the NRSV:

1. the NRSV standard edition, containing the Old and New Testaments (Protestant canon);
2. the NRSV with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books in addition to the Old and New Testaments (this edition is sometimes called the NRSV Common Bible);
3. the NRSV Catholic Edition containing the Old Testament books in the order of the Vulgate.

There are also anglicized editions of the NRSV, which modify the text slightly to be consistent with British spelling and grammar.

[New Revised Standard Version of the Bible online at Godweb]

• The NRSV Bible Translation Committee consists of thirty men and women who are among the top scholars in America today. They come from Protestant denominations, the Roman Catholic church, and the Greek Orthodox Church. The committee also includes a Jewish scholar.
• Standing in the tradition of the RSV, which was the only major English translation that included both the standard Protestant canon and the books that are traditionally used by Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians (the so-called “Apocryphal” or “Deuterocanonical” books), the NRSV is available in three formats: a standard edition with or without the Apocrypha, a Roman Catholic Edition, which has the so-called “Apocryphal” or “Deuterocanonical” books in the Roman Catholic canonical order, and The Common Bible, which includes all books that belong to the Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox canons.
• The NRSV stands out among the many translations available today as the Bible translation that is the most widely “authorized” by the churches. It received the endorsement of thirty-three Protestant churches. It received the imprimatur of the American and Canadian Conferences of Catholic bishops. And it received the blessing of a leader of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Rooted in the past, but updated for today’s Bible readers, the NRSV continues the tradition of William Tyndale, the King James Version, the American Standard Version, and the Revised Standard Version. Equally important, it sets a new standard for the 21st Century. The NRSV stands out among the many translations because it is “as literal as possible” in adhering to the ancient texts and only “as free as necessary” to make the meaning clear in graceful, understandable English. It draws on newly available sources that increase our understanding of many previously obscure biblical passages. These sources include new-found manuscripts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, other texts, inscriptions, and archaeological finds from the ancient Near East, and new understandings of Greek and Hebrew grammar.

Improvements over the RSV are of four different kinds:

• updating the language of the RSV, by replacing archaic forms of speech addressed to God (Thee, Thou, wast, dost, etc.), and by replacing words whose meaning has changed significantly since the RSV translation (for example, Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 11.25 that he was “stoned” once)
• making the translation more accurate,
• helping it to be more easily understood, especially when it is read out loud, and
• making it clear where the original texts intend to include all humans, male and female, and where they intend to refer only to the male or female gender.

While copies of the NRSV Bible may be easily and cheaply acquired, a version exists online: oremus Bible Browser (the version at Godweb actually links back to oremus).

Configuring oremus Bible Browser:

• oBB defaults to the Anglicized NRSV, use the dropdown menus to select NRSV.
• The oremus Bible Browser can save your preferred options — such as bible version, whether to display verse numbers, footnotes, section headings.

The published reader guides available on this blog will link to the oremus Bible Browser.