| New Revised Standard Version | |
|---|---|
 NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha | |
| Abbreviation | NRSV |
| Complete Bible published | 1989 |
| Derived from | Revised Standard Version (2nd ed., 1971) |
| Textual basis | |
| Translation type | Formal equivalence[3] |
| Reading level | High school |
| Version revision | 2021[b] |
| Publisher | National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA |
| Copyright | New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. |
| Religious affiliation | Protestant[3][c] |
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. | |
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TheNew Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is a translation of the Bible in American English. First published in 1989 by theNational Council of Churches,[5] the NRSV was created by anecumenical committee of scholars "comprising about thirty members".[1]: vii The NRSV is considered a revision of theRevised Standard Version, and relies on recently publishedcritical editions 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 theTyndale Bible.[5][6] A major revision of the NRSV, theNew Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue), was released in 2021.
Used broadly amongbiblical scholars,[7][8] 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 theProtestant enumeration of theOld Testament, theApocrypha, and theNew Testament;another version of the NRSV includes thedeuterocanonical books as part of the Old Testament, which is normative in the canon ofCatholicism, along with the New Testament (totalling 73 books).[8][9][10]
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) aCatholic edition with all the books of that canon in their customary order, and (3) theCommon Bible, which includes the books that appear in Protestant, Catholic, andEastern Orthodox canons (but not additional books fromOriental Orthodox traditions, such as the Syriac andEthiopian canons).[10] A special edition of the NRSV, called the "Anglicized Edition", employsBritish English spelling and grammar instead ofAmerican English.[11]
The New Revised Standard Version was translated by the Division of Christian Education (now Bible Translation and Utilization) of theNational Council of Churches in the United States. The group included scholars representing Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Christian groups as well asJewish representation in the group responsible for theHebrew Scriptures or Old Testament. The mandate given the committee was summarized in a dictum: "As literal as possible, as free as necessary."[10]
The New Revised Standard Version is available in a 66-bookProtestant Bible that only includes the Old Testament and New Testament; a 73-bookCatholic Edition containing the Catholic enumeration of the Old Testament (with integrateddeuterocanonical books) and New Testament; and an 84-book Ecumenical Bible that includes the Old Testament, Apocrypha and New Testament.[9][10][12]
The following scholars were active on the NRSV Committee of translators at the time of publication.[10]
TheOld Testament translation of the RSV was completed before theDead Sea Scrolls were available to scholars. The NRSV was intended to take advantage of this and other manuscript discoveries, and to reflect advances in scholarship.[5]
In the preface to the NRSVBruce Metzger 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".[5] 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 ofinclusiveness in gender language.[5] 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 ancientpatriarchal culture."[5]
Manymainline Protestant 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 theUnited Methodist Church, theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America, theChristian Church (Disciples of Christ), thePresbyterian Church (USA), thePresbyterian Church in Canada,[13] theUnited Church of Christ, theReformed Church in America, theUnited Church of Canada, and theUniting Church in Australia.
In accordance with the1983 Code of Canon Law,Canon 825.1, the NRSV with the deuterocanonical books received theImprimatur of theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops and theCanadian Conference of Catholic Bishops,[14] meaning that the NRSV (Catholic Edition) is officially approved by theCatholic Church and can be profitably used by Catholics in private study and devotional reading. TheNew Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition also has theimprimatur, granted on 12 September 1991 and 15 October 1991, respectively. For public worship, such as atweekly Mass, mostCatholic Bishops' Conferences in English-speaking countries require the use of other translations, either the adaptedNew American Bible in the dioceses of theUnited States and thePhilippines or theEnglish Standard Version andRevised New Jerusalem Bible in most of the rest of the English-speaking world.[15][16] However, the Canadian conference and the Vatican approved a modification of the NRSV for lectionary use in 2008.[17] The NRSV, along with theRevised Standard Version, is also quoted in several places in the English-language edition of theCatechism of the Catholic Church, the latter of which summarizes Catholic doctrine and belief in written form.
In 1990 thesynod of theOrthodox Church in America 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."[18]
TheNew Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSV-CE) is an edition of the NRSV for Catholics. It contains all thecanonical 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.[14]: x
An Anglicized Text form of the NRSV-CE, embodying the preferences of users ofBritish English, is also available from various publishers.
The NRSV-CE received theimprimatur of theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops and theCanadian Conference of Catholic Bishops 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.[19] The NRSV-CE, along with theRevised Standard Version (RSV), is also one of the texts adapted and quoted in the English-language edition of theCatechism of the Catholic Church.[20]
| New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | NRSVue |
| Complete Bible published | 2021 |
| Derived from | New Revised Standard Version |
| Textual basis |
|
| Translation type | Formal equivalence[3] |
| Reading level | High school |
| Publisher | National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA |
| Copyright | New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, copyright © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. |
| Religious affiliation | Protestant[3][d] |
| Webpage | www |
When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. | |
TheNew 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 theSociety of Biblical Literature.[21] The update was managed by the SBL following an agreement with the copyright-holdingNational Council of Churches (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.[22] It was released for digital purchase on December 25, 2021, with the first print editions following in 2022.[23]
Continuing from the original NRSV, the NRSVue is also available with specific editions for the respective Protestant, Catholic, and Ecumenical canons. The NRSVue currently serves as the base text for theSBL Study Bible and theWestminster Study Bible.[24][25] TheNew Oxford Annotated Bible, the fifth edition of which is based on the 1989 NRSV text, is slated to be revised into a sixth edition with the NRSVue as its new base.[26]
On September 29, 2025, Friendship Press announced that theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops had granted animprimatur to the NRSVue, approving the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, Catholic Edition (NRSVue-CE) for "private use and study by the Catholic faithful".[27]
The King James tradition was continued in the Revised Version of 1881 and 1885, the Revised Standard Version of 1946 and 1952, and the New Revised Standard Version of 1989.
The NRSV was published in 1989 and is popular among academics and church leaders. It is an ecumenical Bible translation whose 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. The NRSV is available in three forms: a standard edition with or without the Apocrypha; a Roman Catholic Edition, which includes the so-called "Apocryphal" or "Deuterocanonical" books in the Roman Catholic canonical order; and the Common Bible, which includes all books belonging to the Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox canons.
Standing in this tradition, the NRSV is available in three ecumenical 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.
Standing in this tradition, the NRSV is available in three ecumenical 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 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is the official Bible standard for The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
...and an edition of the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books placed between the two Testaments. The text of the latter edition received the Imprimatur (official approbation) of the United States and Canadian Catholic Bishops.
The Revised Standard Version (RSV) andThe New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) are the editions of the Bible used in theCatechism.
