The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha

My latest deep dive subject is biblical history, and on top of my decades-old New Oxford Annotated Bible and my recently purchased Harper Collins Study Bible, I wanted a version without all the extras that might be easier for just reading without distraction. I'm sure not everyone is reviewing the same version here. Mine is the paperback, which was a bargain at $5.99 on Amazon. The print is tiny--I mean the scriptures themselves--and the short footnotes, which are just references or alternate readings, are smaller still. The print does appear readable, however, and there may be room for a note here or there, although the margins are very small. I'll treat this as almost a disposable version, and see how long it lasts! I must add though show more that despite its reputation for being the most accurate translation, the NRSV lacks the poetry that I have come to associate with the bible. No one will be quoting many of these translations alongside Shakespeare, that's for sure. show less

The NRSV has consistently struck me as a poor comedown from the RSV. I am not able to do a full assessment of the OT portions -- my Hebrew is minimal -- but I have a good grasp of classical / koine Greek and am continually irritated by the way in which the NRSV slides, by choice of words, from translation to paraphrase; in some cases misleading paraphrase.

To take a random example: in the Gospel of John, the chief priests' reply to Pilate's "Behold your king" is not "We have no king but Caesar"; instead, it is "We have no king but the emperor". Aside from the fact that the Greek actually says "Kaisara". in the third decade of the first century, under Tiberias, "Caesar" was still a family name and not a title: the new translation gets the show more implication wrong: not a reference to the person currently holding an office but to a person of a given name.

The text does represent, by and large, the current established Nestle-Aland NT text and the current up-to-date text of the OT and Deuterocanonical books. However, its failures as a translation seem to me to outweigh the advantage of its better source-text.

For all its pervasive use as a liturgical text I cannot recommend this translation. show less

In my opinion this is the perfect student bible; to begin with, the NRSV is a very good modern but accurate translation pitched at about an upper high-school level, and this one has good discussions about all significant disputes. It is well-bound for a paperback, on excellent stock, with thorough cross references (I initially typed "crass references" -- no, there are none of those!). It has a useful glossary and an excellent apparatus for looking up passages on selected topics. It's not so expensive that you mind marking it up so when you wear it out every few years (if that's your thing) you can toss the old one and start on a new one.

Disclosure: I actually don't toss them out; I have three copies around in various states of disrepair.

Clear concise language that seems somewhat more faithful and less subjective and flowery than other versions.

The package lists a concordance and ribbon marker, neither of which are in this edition. Otherwise, a perfectly acceptable pocket-sized version. The zippered closure was also unexpected.

Just the Apocrypha.

Kindle Bibles are works-in-progress. Very basic edition with links to books only. Word search is slow but seems to be stable.