New Revised Standard Version | NRSV
The New Revised Standard Version was produced in 1989 by the National Council of Churches with the aim of updating the Revised Standard Version. Main revisions include modernizing archaic language, making use of gender-neutral pronouns, correcting inaccuracies, and making the text more fluid for readability.
According to its website, the NRSV follows in the unique tradition of the RSV which “was the only major translation in English that included both the standard Protestant canon and the books that are traditionally used by Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians (the so-called “Apocryphal” or “Deuterocanonical” books).”
Lack of consistency between Old and New Testament translations has sparked mixed reactions to this version, but it continues to be popular among liberal Bible scholars and churches.
What does it sound like?
John 3:16-17 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. 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.
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I have been using the NRSV off an on ever since I started seminary at Asbury Theological. For a person that grew up on the NIV it wasn’t a big stretch. I remember my first week of class hearing a prof read a passage that I was convinced how beautiful the language was.
While some refuse to use this translation because of translation factors, it is considered to be the standard academic translation. I know that many say the ESV is a great alternative, I find the NRSV to be a unique translation for many different uses.