The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

published in 1989 by the

National Council of Churches The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the Uni ...

.Preface to the NRSV
from the

website The NRSV was intended as a translation to serve devotional, liturgical and scholarly needs of the broadest possible range of Christian religious adherents. At present, the New Revised Standard Version is the version most commonly preferred by

biblical scholars Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 For ...

; this is due to its basis on what are often considered the oldest and most reliable manuscripts, and its strict adherence to word-for-word translation. The tradition of the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

has been continued in the

Revised Standard Version The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. This translation itself is a revision of the Ameri ...

and in the New Revised Standard Version. The full 84 book translation includes the Protestant enumeration of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

, the

Apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

, and the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

; another version of the NRSV includes the

deuterocanonical books The deuterocanonical books (from the Greek meaning "belonging to the second canon") are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East to be ...

as part of the Old Testament, which is normative in the canon of

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, along with the New Testament (totalling 73 books). The translation appears in three main formats: (1) an edition including the Protestant enumeration of the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and the New Testament (as well an edition that only includes the Protestant enumeration of the Old Testament and New Testament); (2) a Roman Catholic Edition with all the books of that canon in their customary order, and (3) the

Common Bible The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. This translation itself is a revision of the Ameri ...

, which includes the books that appear in Protestant, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox canons (but not additional books from

Oriental Orthodox The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent o ...

traditions, including the Syriac and

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

canons). A special edition of the NRSV, called the "Anglicized Edition," employs British English spelling and grammar instead of American English.

History

The New Revised Standard Version was translated by the Division of Christian Education (now Bible Translation and Utilization) of the

. The group included scholars representing Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Christian groups as well as

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

representation in the group responsible for the

Hebrew Scriptures The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

Principles of revision

Improved manuscripts and translations

The

translation of the RSV was completed before the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...

were available to scholars. The NRSV was intended to take advantage of this and other manuscript discoveries, and to reflect advances in scholarship.

Gender language

In the preface to the NRSV

Bruce Metzger Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of the A ...

wrote for the committee that “many in the churches have become sensitive to the danger of linguistic sexism arising from the inherent bias of the English language towards the masculine gender, a bias that in the case of the Bible has often restricted or obscured the meaning of the original text”. The RSV observed the older convention of using masculine nouns in a gender-neutral sense (e.g. "man" instead of "person"), and in some cases used a masculine word where the source language used a neutral word. This move has been widely criticised by some, including within the Catholic Church, and continues to be a point of contention today. The NRSV by contrast adopted a policy of inclusiveness in gender language. According to Metzger, “The mandates from the Division specified that, in references to men and women, masculine-oriented language should be eliminated as far as this can be done without altering passages that reflect the historical situation of ancient

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...

culture.”

Translation committee

The following scholars were active on the NRSV Bible Translation Committee at the time of publication. * William A. Beardslee * Phyllis A. Bird * George Coats * Demetrios J. Constantelos * Robert C. Dentan * Alexander A. DiLella, OFM * J. Cheryl Exum * Reginald H. Fuller * Paul D. Hanson * Walter Harrelson * William L. Holladay * Sherman E. Johnson *

Robert A. Kraft Robert A. Kraft (born 1934) is an American Berg Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. He is known for his pioneering work in the application of computing to the study of ancient literature (including the digi ...

* George M. Landes * Conrad E. L’Heureux * S. Dean McBride, Jr. *

Bruce M. Metzger Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of the ...

* Patrick D. Miller * Paul S. Minear * Lucetta Mowry * Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm. *

Harry Orlinsky Harry M. Orlinsky (14 March 1908 21 March 1992) was the editor-in-chief of the New Jewish Publication Society ( NJPS) translation of the Torah (1962). Early life and education Harry Orlinsky was born in 1908 to Yiddish-speaking parents in Owen So ...

* Marvin H. Pope *

Jimmy Jack McBee Roberts Jimmy Jack McBee Roberts (born May 28, 1939), known as J. J. M. Roberts, is William Henry Green Professor of Old Testament Literature (Emeritus) at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. A member of the Churches of Christ, Robert ...

* Alfred v. Rohr Sauer * Katharine D. Sakenfeld *

James A. Sanders James A. Sanders (28 November 1927 in Memphis, Tennessee – 1 October 2020) was an American scholar of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and one of the Dead Sea Scrolls editors. He was the first to translate and edit the Psalm Scroll, which contain ...

* Gene M. Tucker * Eugene C. Ulrich *

Allen Wikgren Allen Paul Wikgren (3 December 1906 – 7 May 1998) was an American New Testament scholar and professor at the University of Chicago. His work centered on the text of the New Testament and New Testament manuscripts, but also included Hellenistic ...

Reception

The New Revised Standard Version is the version most commonly preferred by

, according to Mark D. Given of Missouri State University. This is due to its basis in what are often considered the oldest and best manuscripts, and its strict adherence to word-for-word translation. Many

mainline Protestant The mainline Protestant churches (also called mainstream Protestant and sometimes oldline Protestant) are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States that contrast in history and practice with evangelical, fundamentalist, and charis ...

churches officially approve the NRSV for both private and public use.

The Episcopal Church The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine Ecclesiastical provinces and dioces ...

(United States) in Canon II.2 added the NRSV to the list of translations approved for church services. It is also widely used by the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

, the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...

, the

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

, the

Presbyterian Church (USA) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the US, and known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women and ...

, the

Presbyterian Church in Canada The Presbyterian Church in Canada (french: Église presbytérienne du Canada) is a Presbyterian denomination, serving in Canada under this name since 1875. The United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939. According to ...

, the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...

, the

Reformed Church in America The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a Mainline Protestant, mainline Reformed tradition, Reformed Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 152,317 members. From its beginning in 1628 unti ...

, the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

, and the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Union ...

. In accordance with the

1983 Code of Canon Law The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the second and current comp ...

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

825.1, the NRSV with the deuterocanonical books received the

Imprimatur An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...

of the

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...

and the

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB; french: Conférence des évêques catholiques du Canada) is the national assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in Canada. It was founded in 1943, and was officially recognized by the Holy ...

, meaning that the NRSV (Catholic Edition) is officially approved by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and can be profitably used by Catholics in private study and devotional reading. The New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition also has the

imprimatur An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...

, granted on 12 September 1991 and 15 October 1991, respectively. For public worship, such as at weekly Mass, most

Catholic Bishops Conference An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to ...

s in English-speaking countries require the use of other translations, either the adapted

New American Bible The New American Bible (NAB) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1970. The 1986 Revised NAB is the basis of the revised Lectionary, and it is the only translation approved for use at Mass in the Latin-rite Catholic dioces ...

in the dioceses of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

or the

English Standard Version The English Standard Version (ESV) is an English translation of the Bible. Published in 2001 by Crossway, the ESV was "created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors." The ESV relies on recently published critic ...

and

Revised New Jerusalem Bible The ''Revised New Jerusalem Bible'' (RNJB) is an English translation of the Catholic Bible translated by the Benedictine scholar Henry Wansbrough as an update and successor to the 1966 ''Jerusalem Bible'' and the 1985 '' New Jerusalem Bible''. ...

in most of the rest of the English-speaking world. However, the Canadian conference and the Vatican approved a modification of the NRSV for lectionary use in 2008. The NRSV, along with the

, is also quoted in several places in the English-language edition of the ''

Catechism of the Catholic Church The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' ( la, Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae; commonly called the ''Catechism'' or the ''CCC'') is a catechism promulgated for the Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II in 1992. It aims to summarize, in book for ...

'', the latter of which summarizes Catholic doctrine and belief in written form. In 1990 the

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

of the

Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian church based in North America. The OCA is partly recognized as Autocephaly, autocephalous and consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, commun ...

decided not to permit use of the NRSV in liturgy or in Bible studies on the grounds that it is highly "divergent from the Holy Scriptures traditionally read aloud in the sacred services of the Church", though the National Council of Churches notes that the translation has "the blessing of a leader of the

Greek Orthodox Church The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

2021 Updated Edition (NRSVue)

A three-year process of reviewing and updating the text of the NRSV was announced at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the

Society of Biblical Literature The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), founded in 1880 as the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, is an American-based learned society dedicated to the academic study of the Bible and related ancient literature. Its current stated mis ...

. The update will be managed by the SBL following an agreement with the copyright-holding NCC. The stated focuses of the review are incorporating advances in textual criticism since the 1989 publication of the NRSV, improving the textual notes, and reviewing the style and rendering of the translation. A team of more than fifty scholars, led by an editorial board, is responsible for the review, which goes by the working title of the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition (NRSVue). It was released for digital purchase on December 25, 2021, with the first print editions following in 2022.

Study editions

* ''The Harper Study Bible'' (

Zondervan Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publ ...

, 1991, ) * ''NRSV Reference Bible with the Apocrypha'' (Zondervan, 1993, ) * ''NRSV Student Bible'' (Zondervan, 1996, ) * ''The Cambridge Annotated Study Bible'' (

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1993, ) * ''The HarperCollins Study Bible with Apocrypha'' (

, 1997, ) * ''The Access Bible with Apocrypha'' (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1999, ) * ''The Spiritual Formation Bible'' (Zondervan, 1999, ) * ''The New Interpreter's Study Bible with Apocrypha'' (

United Methodist Publishing House Abingdon Press is the book publishing arm of the United Methodist Publishing House which publishes sheet music, Minister (Christianity), ministerial resources, Bible-study aids, and other items, often with a focus on Methodism and Methodists. H ...

, 2003, ) * ''The HarperCollins Study Bible: Fully Revised & Updated'' (

HarperOne HarperOne is a publishing imprint of HarperCollins, specializing in books that aim to "transform, inspire, change lives, and influence cultural discussions." Under the original name of Harper San Francisco, the imprint was founded in 1977 by 13 em ...

, 2006, ) * ''

The Green Bible ''The Green Bible'' is an English version of the New Revised Standard Version Bible with a focus on environmental issues and teachings. It was originally published by Harper Bibles on October 7, 2008. It is a study Bible featuring a foreword by ...

'' (HarperOne, 2008, ) * ''The Discipleship Study Bible'' (

Westminster John Knox Westminster John Knox Press is an American publisher of Christian books located in Louisville, Kentucky and is part of Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, the publishing arm of the Louisville, Kentucky-based Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) The P ...

, 2008, ) * ''The Life with God Bible'' ( Renovaré, 2009, ) * ''Lutheran Study Bible'' (

Augsburg Fortress 1517 Media, formerly Augsburg Fortress Press, is the official publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), also publishing for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) as ''Augsburg Fortress Canada''. Headquarte ...

, 2009, ) * ''

The Wesley Study Bible ''The Wesley Study Bible'' is a Methodist-oriented biblical study text with introductory text for each book, explanations and commentary 'to help the reader to understand the biblical text', and with 'special references to the writings of John ...

'' (United Methodist Publishing House, 2009, ) * ''The Guidebook: The NRSV Student Bible'' (Zondervan, 2012, ) * ''The Jewish Annotated New Testament'', 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2017, ) * ''The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha'', 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2018, ) * ''NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible'' (Zondervan, 2019, ) * ''Baylor Annotated Study Bible'' (

Baylor University Press Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist Christianity, Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas, Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the ...

, 2019, ) * ''The Word on Fire Bible (Volume 1): The Gospels'' (

Word on Fire Word on Fire is a Catholic media organization founded by Bishop Robert Barron that uses digital and traditional media to introduce Catholicism to the broader world. It rose to prominence through Barron's work as a priest engaging with new media ...

, 2020, )

Canon

The New Revised Standard Version is available in an 84-book Ecumenical Bible that includes the Old Testament, Apocrypha and New Testament; a 66-book Protestant Bible that only includes the Old Testament and New Testament; and a 73-book Catholic edition containing the Catholic enumeration of the Old Testament and the New Testament. A third edition incorporates the Eastern Orthodox canon.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

*
Religion: Farewell To Thee's and He's
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine
The National Council of Churches

New Revised Standard Version
{{English Bible translation navbox 1989 books Bible translations into English 1989 in Christianity