NRSV
Word-for-WordTranslation profile
New Revised Standard Version
NRSV
How it translates, how hard it is to read, where it came from, and what makes it distinctive.
Now showing Guided. How it translates, how hard it is to read, where it came from, and what makes it distinctive.
This is an educational comparison guide — not a Bible reader, and not a quiz that picks a best Bible. You can change this anytime.
The short version
NRSV stays closer to the wording and structure of the original languages.
These sentences use the listed method, reading-grade, lineage, and notable-facts fields. They are not a ranking.
Translation approach
NRSV stays closer to the wording and structure of the original languages. This guide lists this as Word-for-Word.
Reading difficulty
Moderate reading difficulty. This guide lists grade 8.
What makes it distinctive
Includes textual data from the Dead Sea Scrolls, modern English idioms, and the use of gender-sensitive language with references to humankind, while maintaining masculine references to God.
Lineage / history
This guide lists earlier English work: Revised Standard Version.
How it translates
Translation approach: . NRSV stays closer to the wording and structure of the original languages.
Scholars translate each word based upon the word usage at the time of the writing. No translation is actually “word for word,” but the intent is to come as close as possible. This method is also called formal equivalence.
Reading level
Moderate reading difficulty. This guide lists grade 8. Reading level does not measure accuracy.
Where it came from
: Revised Standard Version
First listed 1989.
Text and source listings
Old Testament: , , , , Syriac Peshitta, Aramaic Targums
New Testament: United Bible Societies
What makes it distinctive
A translation’s story
Why this translation exists
1
Before it
Revised Standard Version → NRSV
Revised Standard Version
2
Why it was created
To revise the Revised Standard Version using information gathered from newly discovered Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.
3
How it translates
Word-for-Word. Scholars translate each word based upon the word usage at the time of the writing. No translation is actually “word for word,” but the intent is to come as close as possible. This method is also called formal equivalence.
4
Where it sits
Word-for-Word · Grade 8 · First released 1989 (Modern English).
See it in action
Compare with translations that offer a useful contrast — not a ranking.
RSV
Related English lineage
GNT
Different translation approach
NIrV
Different reading grade
Sample verses
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
16 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. 17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.