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Copyright © By Dr. Adel Elsaie, Book Title: "Please Revise the Bible, Again" |
4.3.2 Protestant
Versions
In 1604 King James I commissioned a new revision of
the English Bible; it was completed in 1611. Following Tyndale
primarily, this Authorized Version, also known as the King James Version, was
widely acclaimed for its beauty and simplicity of style. In the years that
followed, the Authorized Version underwent several revisions, the most notable
being the English Revised Version (1881-85), the American Standard Version
(1901), and the revision of the American Standard Version undertaken by the
International Council of Religious Education, representing 40 Protestant
denominations in the US and Canada. This Revised Standard Version (RSV)
appeared between 1946 and 1952. Widely accepted by Orthodox, Protestant, and
Roman Catholic Christians, it provided the basis for the first accepted English
Bible. In the Preface of the RSV, 1971, the following is written:
“The King James Version has grave defects. By the middle of the
nineteenth century, the development of Biblical studies and the discovery of
many manuscripts more ancient than those upon which the King James Version was
based, made it manifest, that these
defects are so many and so serious as to call for the revision of the
English translation.” The preface
continued to refer to the unhappy experience with unauthorized publications,
“which tampered
with the text of the English Revised Version, in the supposed interest of
the American public.”
The New Revised Standard
Version (NRSV, 1989) eliminated much obsolete and ambiguous usage. In the
introduction, “To the Reader”, of the New Revised Standard Version of the
Bible, it was stated that this Version used new development of biblical studies
and many biblical manuscripts that are more ancient than those used for King
James Version. This suggests that NRSV should be closer to the original
biblical text that does not exist.
The New King James Bible,
with contemporary American vocabulary, was published in 1982. The Holy Bible, Easy-to-Read version, in 1987
and 1989, was adapted from the existing text by the