The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is a translation of the Bible in American English. It was first 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 a left-wing progressive activist group and the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partners ...

, the NRSV was created by an

ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

committee of scholars "comprising about thirty members". The NRSV is considered a revision of 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 is a revision of the American St ...

, and relies on recently published

critical editions Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may range i ...

of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. It is thus a revision in a series of English translations that has been identified as beginning with the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...

. A major revision of the NRSV, the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue), was released in 2021. Used broadly among

biblical scholars Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse academic discipline, disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the Biblical canon#Jewish canons, canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Judais ...

, the NRSV was intended as a translation to serve the devotional, liturgical, and scholarly needs of the broadest possible range of Christian religious adherents. The full 84 book translation includes the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

enumeration of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (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 and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

, the

Apocrypha Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...

, and the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

; another version of the NRSV includes the

deuterocanonical books The deuterocanonical books, meaning 'of, pertaining to, or constituting a second canon', collectively known as the Deuterocanon (DC), are certain books and passages considered to be canonical books of the Old Testament by the Catholic Chur ...

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

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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, 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 Catholic edition with all the books of that canon in their customary order, and (3) the Common Bible, which includes the books that appear in Protestant, Catholic, and

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

canons (but not additional books from

Oriental Orthodox The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysitism, Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian ...

traditions, such as 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 British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

spelling and grammar instead of

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

History

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

in the United States. The group included scholars representing Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Christian groups as well as

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

representation in the group responsible for the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament. The mandate given the committee was summarized in a dictum: "As literal as possible, as free as necessary."

Committee of translators

The following scholars were active on the NRSV Committee of translators 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 * 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 an American scholar, who 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 Yiddis ...

* Marvin H. Pope * Jimmy Jack McBee Roberts * Alfred v. Rohr Sauer * Katharine D. Sakenfeld * James A. Sanders * Gene M. Tucker * Eugene C. Ulrich * Allen Wikgren

Principles of revision

Improved manuscripts and translations

The

translation of the RSV was completed before the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

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 th ...

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 criticized 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 authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

culture."

Reception

Many

mainline Protestant The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theolo ...

churches officially approve the NRSV for both private and public use. The Episcopal Church (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 Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

, the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of December 31, 2023, it ...

, 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 PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in the Religion in the United States, United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States too. Its th ...

, the

Presbyterian Church in Canada The Presbyterian Church in 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 Religion in Canada, Canada 2021 Censu ...

, the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

, the

Reformed Church in America The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 82,865 members. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed ...

, the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (UCC; ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada. The United Chu ...

, and the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most Wiktionary:congregation, congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church o ...

. 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 Law, ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the sec ...

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

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 Catho ...

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 2001 after the merger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic C ...

and the

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB; ) is the national assembly of the bishop (Catholic Church), bishops of the Catholic Church in Canada. It was founded in 1943, and was officially recognized by the Holy See in 1948. Since the Sec ...

, 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 List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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 Catho ...

, granted on 12 September 1991 and 15 October 1991, respectively. For public worship, such as at weekly Mass, most Catholic Bishops' Conferences in English-speaking countries require the use of other translations, either the adapted

New American Bible The New American Bible (NAB) is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Bible first published in 1970. The 1986 Revised NAB is the basis of the revised Lectionary. In the Catholic Church it is the only translation approved ...

in the dioceses of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

or the

English Standard Version The English Standard Version (ESV) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. 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 pu ...

and Revised 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'' (; commonly called the ''Catechism'' or the ''CCC'') is a reference work that summarizes the Catholic Church's doctrine. It was Promulgation (Catholic canon law), promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 ...

'', 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 '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

of the

Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian church based in North America. The OCA consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In ...

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."

NRSV Catholic Edition (NRSV-CE)

The New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSV-CE) is an edition of the NRSV for Catholics. It contains all the canonical books of Scripture accepted by the Catholic Church arranged in the traditional Catholic order. Because of the presence of Catholic scholars on the original NRSV translation team, no other changes to the text were needed. An Anglicized Text form of the NRSV-CE, embodying the preferences of users of

, is also available from various publishers.

Liturgical use and approval

The NRSV-CE received the

of the

and the

in 1991, granting official approval for Catholic use in private study and devotional reading. In 2007, the Canadian conference and the Vatican approved a modification of the NRSV for lectionary use beginning the following year. The NRSV-CE, along with the

(RSV), is also one of the texts adapted and quoted in the English-language edition of the

NRSV Updated Edition (NRSVue)

The New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue) is a major revision of the NRSV. 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 was 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. It was released for digital purchase on December 25, 2021, with the first print editions following in 2022. As of July 2024, the NCC has submitted the NRSVue for review by

with a request for an

Study editions

* ''The Harper Study Bible'' (

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

, 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 was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

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

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

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press 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, 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 e ...

, 2006, ) * '' The Green Bible'' (HarperOne, 2008, ) * ''The Discipleship Study Bible'' ( Westminster John Knox, 2008, ) * '' The Life with God Bible'' ( Renovaré, 2009, ) * ''Lutheran Study Bible'' ( Augsburg Fortress, 2009, ) * '' The Wesley Study Bible'' (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 Press is a university press affiliated with Baylor University, which is located in Waco, Texas. The press releases books largely about religion and theology; it also publishes works about social criticism, sociology, literary cri ...

, 2019, ) * ''The Word on Fire Bible'', 7 volumes ( Word on Fire, 2020–ongoing) * ''The SBL Study Bible with Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books'' (HarperOne, 2023, )

Canon

The New Revised Standard Version is available in a 66-book

Protestant Bible A Protestant Bible is a Christian Bible whose translation or revision was produced by Protestantism, Protestant Christians. Typically translated into a vernacular language, such Bibles comprise 39 books of the Old Testament (according to the Dev ...

that only includes the Old Testament and New Testament; a 73-book Catholic Edition containing the Catholic enumeration of the Old Testament and New Testament; and an 84-book Ecumenical Bible that includes the Old Testament, Apocrypha and New Testament.

Notes

References

External links

Official webpage (NRSVue)

''

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

'' magazine
The National Council of Churches

New Revised Standard Version
{{National Council of Churches members 1989 books 1989 in Christianity Bible translations into English