RSV Revised Standard Version

RSV Revised Standard Version

The Revised Standard Version (RSV) seeks to preserve all that is in the historic English translations, whilst incorporating insights from the more ancient manuscripts. The intention was not only to create a clearer version of the Bible for the English-speaking church but also to "preserve all that is best in the English Bible as it has been known and used through the centuries" and "to put the message of the Bible in simple, enduring words that are worthy to stand in the great Tyndale-King James tradition."

The RSV is a revision of the American Standard Version (ASV), which in turn was a revision of the Revised Version (RV) of the King James Version (KJV). It was first published in 1952 and later revised in 1971. It used modern language but retained use of the traditional thees and thous in reference to God. It was the first Bible to overtake the King James Version of the Bible in popularity.

The RSV is the basis of two other recent revisions: the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) in 1989 and the English Standard Version (ESV) in 2001.

Sample verse

But if any one has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? (1 John 3:17)