Time and Thongs March On: The NRSV Has Been Updated

May 2022
The NRSV has come out with an updated version that makes a number of really helpful improvements in translation and readability. 22,000 in all. As of this date, it's online available in electronic version (such as on Kindle) and through online Bibles, such as www.Biblegateway.com.

I heartily recommend this new update. It's called the "NRSV Updated Edition" or NRSVUE/NRSVue.

Most of the changes are improvements in the English used to translate the original Hebrew and Greek. Some changes are clarifications based on scholarship. Others, as you will see below, are for the purpose of "modern sensibilities" --which simply means that the meaning of words can change over time, and its important to stay current. Nobody wants to untie Jesus' "thong."

I first came across one of the improvements when working on Luke 15's parable of the Lost Sheep.

Luke 15:6 in the original NRSV had this awkward phrasing:

‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

The updated NRSV simplifies the phrase with no loss of meaning:

‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.'

In the NRSV, you were not worthy to untie Jesus' thong (the thong of his sandal, that is).

But now in the NRSVUE, you are not worthy to until Jesus' strap.

Biblegateway.com, the world's best and most thorough online Bible, now directs all NRSV searches to NRSVUE results.

This will undoubtedly affect the many Biblegateway verse links in our lessons here at Rotation.org. The NRSV wording you may find in a lesson posted here at Rotation.org prior to 2022 may not be the same wording used in the NRSVUE.

NRSVUE Changes according to the Religious News Service...

(RNS) — An updated edition of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible includes thousands of changes in language, reflecting the research of a wide range of scholars who spent four years reviewing its contents as well as taking into consideration “modern sensibilities.”

A verse in the New Testament Book of Galatians that previously referred to the sons of Abraham as “one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman” will instead read “one by an enslaved woman and the other by a free woman.”

The second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew will tell of “magi” rather than “wise men” coming to Jerusalem after Jesus’ birth.

Other changes reflect a decision to avoid identifying people based on their disabilities. A verse in Matthew that previously referred to “demoniacs, epileptics and paralytics,” now reads “people possessed by demons or having epilepsy or afflicted with paralysis.”

Jewish holidays, such as the Feast of the Unleavened Break, are now capitalized as a sign of respect. [Note: In fact, many of the changes made in the NRSV Update occur in the Old Testament which was written earlier and in a more ancient language, and whose study is often influenced by archaeological finds, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls.}

The common meaning of gender-specific words continues to change. For example, the word "girl." The new edition does not use the word “girl” when referring to a young woman (which is what the original Greek uses). There can be a lot of difference in meaning between "girl" and "young woman."  (And) Mark 14:69 now speaks of a “female servant” instead of a “servant-girl" or "slave girl."

The most popular modern Bible translation is the NIV. In general, it's a little more "readable" than the NRSV, which is no doubt one of the reasons why the NRSV initiated an update --to improve readability. But the NRSV (and now the NRSVUE) is still considered the "go to" translation for those wanted to get the best scholarly opinion as to what the text is saying.

Rotation.org's Writing Team tends to use the NRSV for its lesson sets, but our Bible Backgrounds do study the translation and occasionally offer different insights aimed at making the text more teachable to children. As well, many of Rotation.org's Supporting Members come from "mainline denominations" where the NRSV is still considered the "go to" translation. Fortunately, with the advent of online Bibles, comparing and swapping texts is easy.

Whatever version of the Bible you use with children, study it and compare it to others. And if you're using "storybook" or semi-paraphrase-like versions like the New Living Translation, definitely compare translations!