Revised Standard Version
New Testament - 1946; Entire Bible - 1951
The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an authorized revision of the American Standard Version (ASV) of 1901. It was later revised and published as the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
The RSV posed the first serious challenge to the popularity of the King James Version (KJV). It was intended to be a readable and literally accurate modern English translation. 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."
From 1930-32, a study of the ASV text was undertaken to decide the question of a new revision, but due to the Great Depression, it was not until 1937 that they decided to revise the ASV text. A panel of 32 scholars was put together for that task.
The translation panel used the 17th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek text for the New Testament, and the traditional Hebrew Masoretic Text for the Old Testament. In the Book of Isaiah, they sometimes followed readings found in the newly discovered Dead Sea Scrolls. The RSV New Testament was first published on February 11, 1946, and the complete RSV Bible in 1951.
Fundamentalists and evangelicals, in particular, accused the translators of deliberately tampering with the Scriptures to deny the doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Jesus, and they cited other traditionally Messianic prophecies that were allegedly obscured in the RSV. Many Christians adopted what has come to be known as the “Isaiah 7:14 "litmus test”; that is, whenever a new translation arrives, that verse is the one they will check to determine whether or not they can trust the new version as a legitimate translation. In this particular verse, translators must choose whether to interpret a key passage as "young woman" or "virgin".
The RSV posed the first serious challenge to the popularity of the King James Version (KJV). It was intended to be a readable and literally accurate modern English translation. 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."
From 1930-32, a study of the ASV text was undertaken to decide the question of a new revision, but due to the Great Depression, it was not until 1937 that they decided to revise the ASV text. A panel of 32 scholars was put together for that task.
The translation panel used the 17th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek text for the New Testament, and the traditional Hebrew Masoretic Text for the Old Testament. In the Book of Isaiah, they sometimes followed readings found in the newly discovered Dead Sea Scrolls. The RSV New Testament was first published on February 11, 1946, and the complete RSV Bible in 1951.
Fundamentalists and evangelicals, in particular, accused the translators of deliberately tampering with the Scriptures to deny the doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Jesus, and they cited other traditionally Messianic prophecies that were allegedly obscured in the RSV. Many Christians adopted what has come to be known as the “Isaiah 7:14 "litmus test”; that is, whenever a new translation arrives, that verse is the one they will check to determine whether or not they can trust the new version as a legitimate translation. In this particular verse, translators must choose whether to interpret a key passage as "young woman" or "virgin".
