Revised Standard Version

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The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible that was popular in the mid-20th century and posed the first serious challenge to the King James Version (KJV) owing to its aim to be both a readable and literally accurate modern English translation of the Bible.

Beginnings of the revision

The RSV is a revision of the 1901 American Standard Version. The copyright to that version was acquired by the International Council of Religious Education in 1928. At that time, a two-year study was done to decide the question of a new revision. In 1937, it was decided that a revision would be done and a panel of 32 scholars was put together for that task. The decision, however, was delayed by the Great Depression. Funding for the revision was assured in 1936 by a deal that was made with Thomas Nelson & Sons. The deal gave Thomas Nelson & Sons the exclusive rights to print the RSV for ten years. The translators were to be paid by advance royalties.

The 1946 and 1952 printings and reaction

The translation panel used the 17th edition of the Nestle Greek text for the New Testament, and the traditional Hebrew Masoretic Text for the Old Testament. However, they amended the Hebrew in a number of places. In the Book of Isaiah, they sometimes followed readings found in the then newly discovered Dead Sea Scrolls. The New Testament was released in 1946, and the Old Testament in 1952.

The RSV New Testament was well received, while the Old Testament was not. It was claimed that the RSV translators had translated the Old Testament from an odd viewpoint (some said a Jewish viewpoint, pointing to agreements with the Jewish Publication Society of America Version and the presence on the editorial board of a Jewish scholar, Harry Orlinsky) and that other views, including those of the New Testament, were not considered. Some conservative sections of the Church accused the RSV of tampering with some passages that can be read as prophecies relating to Jesus. Particularly criticised was the translation of Isaiah 7:14 as "a young woman" (the generally accepted meaning of the Hebrew) rather than the traditional Christian translation of "a virgin" (agreeing with the New Testament and the Septuagint). Some people were so enraged over the RSV that they took their anger to extremes. For example, a pastor in the Southern USA burned a copy of the RSV and sent the ashes as a protest to Luther Weigle, the chairman of the translation panel. Others began to create unfounded charges that members of the translation panel were communists. At Senator Joseph McCarthy's request, these charges were printed in the US Air Force training manual.

There were three key differences between the RSV and the KJV and American Standard Version (ASV). One difference was the way the name of God (YHVH) is translated. The ASV translated the name as "Jehovah," (modern scholars usually render it as Yahweh). The RSV returned to the practice of the KJV by translating the name as the "LORD". Another change was in the usage of archaic English for second-person pronouns, "thou", "thee", "thy", etc. The KJV and ASV used these terms for both God and humans. The RSV used archaic English only for God. In the New Testament, the RSV followed the latest available version of Nestle's Greek text whereas the ASV had used an earlier version of this text (though the differences were slight) and the KJV had used the Textus receptus.

The Deuterocanonicals (called the Apocrypha by most Protestant Christians) and the 1965 Catholic Edition

Template:BibleHistory In 1957, at the request of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the Apocrypha was added to the RSV. The RSV Apocrypha was a revision of the English Revised Version Apocrypha of 1894.

In 1965, the Catholic Biblical Association adapted – under the editorship of Bernard Orchard OSB and Reginald C. Fuller – the RSV for Catholic use with the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, now also published and licensed by Ignatius Press. This edition contained the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament placed in the traditional order of the Vulgate. There were a few light changes in the New Testament. These changes were mostly to return to familiar phrases, and a few footnotes were changed.

The Catholic RSV was also used as the English text for the Navarre Bible commentary.

Revisions of the RSV

1971 saw a revision of the New Testament. This revision restored John 7:53–8:11 and Mark 16:9–20 to the text (in 1946 they were footnotes). The 1971 New Testament revision also made some use of the 3rd edition of the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament.

In 1989, the National Council of Churches released an update to the RSV called the New Revised Standard Version.

In 2001, publisher Crossway Bibles released its own Protestant evangelical update to the RSV called the English Standard Version (ESV). It serves as an alternative literal translation among conservatives who find the 1971 New American Standard Bible difficult to read due to its awkward sound to modern English speakers.

In 2006, Ignatius Press released the Revised Standard Version-Second Catholic Edition, which updated the archaic language in the 1966 RSV-Catholic Edition, and exchanged some footnotes and texts to reflect a more traditional understanding of certain passages.

Adaptations of the RSV

There have been many adaptions of the RSV over the years.

The Common Bible of 1973 was a way to place the books in a way that pleased both Catholics and Protestants. The Common Bible was divided into four sections:

• The Old Testament (39 Books)
• The Deuterocanonical Books (12 Books)
• The Non-Deuterocanonical Books (Three Books; Six Books after 1977)
• The New Testament (27 Books)

The expanded Apocrypha gave the Common Bible a total of 81 books; it included 1 Esdras (also known as 3 Ezra), 2 Esdras (4 Ezra), and the Prayer of Manasseh, books that have appeared in the Vulgate's appendix since Jerome's time "lest they perish entirely", but which are not considered canonical by Roman Catholics and are thus not included in most modern Catholic Bibles. In 1977, the RSV Apocrypha was expanded to include 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, and Psalm 151, three additional sections accepted in the Eastern Orthodox canon (4 Maccabees again forming an appendix in that tradition). This action increased the Common Bible to 84 Books, making it the most comprehensive English bible translation to date with regard to books not accepted by all denominations. The goal of the Common Bible was to help ecumenical relations between the churches.

Image:ReadersDigestBible-cover.jpg In 1982, Reader's Digest published a special edition of the RSV that was billed as a condensed edition of the text. The Reader's Digest edition of the RSV was intended for those who don't read the Bible or who read it once in a while. It was not intended as a replacement of the full RSV text. In the end, 55 percent of the Old Testament and 25 percent of the New Testament was cut. Familar passages such as the Lord's Prayer, Psalm 23 and the Ten Commandments were retained. For those who wanted the full RSV, Reader's Digest provided a list of publishers that sold the complete RSV at that time.

2002 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1952 edition of the RSV. To mark this event, Oxford University Press issued a special edition of the RSV. This edition contained the 1971 revised New Testament and the 1977 expanded Apocrypha.

Sources

• Marlowe, Michael D. (2001) "Revised Standard Version (1946-1977)". Retrieved July 21, 2003.
• Sheely, Steven & Nash, Robert (1999). Choosing A Bible. Nashville: Abdington Press. ISBN 0687052009
• Comfort, Philip (1996). The Complete Guide to Bible Versions. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House. ISBN 0842312528
• Thuesen, Peter (1999). In Discordance with the Scriptures: American Protestant Battles over Translating the Bible. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019515228X
• Metzger, Bruce (2001). The Bible in Translation. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. ISBN 0801022827

External links

• RSV text online; searchable
• A book-review on the battle for the RSV
• Cecil J. Carter: "Should Christians Trust The Revised Standard Version?" (this work lacks much scholarly support since it approaches the issue from a KJV-Only perspective)
• RSV Preface
• The Revised Standard Version (1946-1977)
• About the RSVTemplate:Featured article