Revised Standard Version

One of the central ancestor texts of modern English Bible translation, the Revised Standard Version covers the complete Bible, rendered from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. It is best classified not as a fresh translation but as a substantial revision, taking the American Standard Version as its predecessor and base text and revising it in light of modern critical texts. Its translation philosophy joins formal equivalence with modern critical scholarship, seeking a close correspondence to the wording of the original languages while incorporating the findings of textual study. Among its distinctive features is the way it preserves much of the literary heritage of the King James Version and the American Standard Version while substantially updating both text and language. Standing within the line of revision that runs from the King James tradition, it in turn served as a point of departure for later English versions and shaped much subsequent translation work.