Friendship Press has now released the digital version of the NRSV Updated Edition (NRSV-UE). Currently, the digital version is $9.99 and is only available through the Word@Hand app from Friendship Press (available on both iOS and android). The publisher’s website with additional information is available here. I purchased a copy last night and read through a few sections of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Overall, the app appears reasonably easy to navigate, and I can confirm the digital edition includes the apocrypha/deuterocanonical books.
As Timothy mentioned in the comments, at least one printed edition of the NRSV-UE has already been announced for publication in August of next year. Zondervan’s personal size NRSV-UE with Apocrypha looks like it will have many of the same features as the Thomas Nelson Personal Size NRSV-CE, which is one of my favorite NRSV editions. Zondervan’s NRSV-UE with Apocrypha is available for pre-order from both Amazon and ChristianBook. ChristianBook’s price is currently much lower than Amazon.
Why are they making it available only through a mobile app? Are they trying to prevent it from being widely distributed? You would think an update, however minor, to the most widely used Bible translation our there would be treated as a major event
A Kindle edition is also available at Amazon for $7.80 : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NNYLJFD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Thanks for the link!
Thank you. I also downloaded the app and bought it there, but it is a different version, the version without the deuterocanon. I will probably also buy the print version when it comes out, because I’m a sucker. LOL
Why aren’t we hearing more about this? I would assume that this is going to be the new academic translation; why am I not hearing from HarperCollins about new Study Bibles using this or current study bibles to be updated using this? Heck where is HarperCollins in all of this?
I haven’t heard anything about HarperCollins, but there is a list of publishers who have committed to publishing the NRSV-UE near the end of the PDF sampler here:
https://friendshippress.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/frp-nrsvuearc-sampler-web-rev_08242021.pdf
Oxford and Cambridge are on the list. I suspect the New Oxford Annotated Bible will be updated with the NRSV-UE text eventually. It will take a decent amount of time to update the study notes and typeset the new edition, though.
To be fair, a scholarly study bible typically take years to produce. HC and Oxford may have been awaiting the release of the complete translation before beginning the extensive project of new full-blown scholarly study Bibles. I would expect it will take three to five years (less for HC, more for Oxford) before we see new editions of their flagship study Bibles based on this new translation.
So how long will it take to produce a “CE” of the update?
Depends on what you mean by ‘Catholic Edition’, if you mean an edition with the Deuterocanonicals. it already exists and you can buy it from Amazon. If you mean an edition with an Imprimatur from a Catholic bishop, the answer is “it could take decades”, it is absurdly difficult to get a bishop in the English speaking world to review a Bible translation and grant an imprimatur, which is why the last few Catholic Editions to be published, such as the English Standard Version Catholic Edition, the New Catholic Version, and the New Living Bible Catholic Edition, had to go to the third world, places like India and the Philippines, to find a bishop willing to review it and grant an imprimatur. I don’t know why American, Canadian or British bishops or either unable or unwilling to perform this basic duty anymore.
I know why in the U.S. The answer is the NABRE, the worst of all english translations, which is their ‘cash cow’.
I am aware of the nrsv-ce. I wasn’t a big fan. The nrsv-ce doesn’t include the updates from nrsvue does it?
Btw, I’m some 20 years out from my biblical studies days. I am only just now beginning to get back into it. I use the REB (I know it’s a dead translation but I still like it, NABRE (preferred it to the nrsv-ce), esv-ce, esv interlinear OT and NT.
LOL, the NABRE is not even close to being the worst translation. That “honor” would go to the Inclusive New Testament, followed by the New World Translation, then probably The Message, then the Common English Bible. The NABRE wouldn’t even be in the top 10 worst.
Well, I know why we aren’t hearing anything about this, as it pertains to this because they are hiding that they essentially, as far as I can did literally nothing. Here’s what I have to show….
Having gone through essentially half the Book of Genesis, with the one from 89 and this one digitally, I’ve noticed that the only difference between the NRSV89 and the NRSV-UE is that the places where it said in the NRSV89, HUMANKIND, it has just been changed to say HUMANS in the NRSV-UE, literally every time, which might be a little better than HUMANKIND, it would have been a little better if it had just been changed to, PEOPLE.
Aside from that Genesis 1 sounds rather wierd, with the whole earth was complete chaos. I thought to myself why does it not say IN COMPLETE CHAOS, but it doesn’t. Outside of that and humankind being changed into humans essentially everywhere I saw and one sentence having brackets and the sentence in this one having the brackets I have literally not seen any difference between the two except what I mentioned or about to show.
Genesis 1
NRSV89: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void…
NRSV-UE: When God began to create the heavens and the Earth the earth was complete chaos…
Genesis 6: Banner
(The banner above was changed)
NRSV89: Humankind
NRSV-UE: Humans
Genesis 6:5, 9:6 etc.
NRSV89: Humankind
NRSV-UE: Humans
Genesis 14:17
NRSV89: (That is the kings valley)
NRSV-UE: That is the kings valley.
Given all this, I don’t see a reason to ever buy or own this, due to the fact that it is literally the exact same thing except in a few places like I mentioned. Basically you’d be buying the exact same thing over again more or less, because there are no differences (at least in the Book of Genesis) that I’ve seen between one or the other.
So if that’s the way it’s going to be all the way through there was literally no point in this. So everybody who was waiting for it to come out to see what they did, well, they did literally nothing and this was for nothing, and a straight waste of time to wait for. Maybe if you already don’t own the NRSV89 then that’s one thing. But as it stands (so far) I wouldn’t bother with it.
Outside of that I looked at one of the verses from The Book of Psalms several months back when you were first able to look at the samples, I forget exactly which Psalm it was, but when it was compared to even the previous edition the NRSV89 and what was in the “new” one coming up the Psalm here in the NRSV-UE was maybe two times as long and actually sounded better but one Psalm being twice as long as the previous one and these handful of changes doesn’t justify a purchase. I can’t see why anyone would ever waste spending their money on this if they already have the NRSV89 you already have this, so keep your money.
As I said they literally did nothing. I don’t see why it took as long as it did to get this out. I guess they were trying to build some sort of hype by leaving people in suspense about it. I think this will go nowhere, the only way it will get sold to any degree is if they discontinue the 89 and people are forced to buy it that’s the only way it’s going to ever see any halfway decent number sales. Personally I see this as nothing more than a money grab.
Here is a first impression (not mine, obviously). I am looking forward to reading some more impressions on this. I never took to the NRSV, but I am willing to give it a shot if it actually gives me a better understanding.
http://neilshort.blogspot.com/2021/12/first-impression-of-nrsvue.html
I know this doesn’t exactly have to do with the NRSV-UE but it does have to do with the NRSV, there is now a page up on the Word on Fire website, with a clock ticking down to 10 days from now, it has something to do with the 2nd and final New Testament volume for the Word on Fire Bible, (Acts, Letters & Revelation). I had heard some Rumors in the last several days myself that the second volume was coming out imminently. Now I don’t know whether or not that means that it is going to be out in time for Easter / Lent or what, but if it is being referred to as coming out soon and even on their own website it says very very soon my best guess is it would come out around that time. It actually kind of surprised me because I didn’t expect that to come out for another couple years or so, so when I heard about it and looked into it and saw that particular page on their site, I was just like well now that’s something.
At this rate we will get the entire word on fire Bible Old Testament and all out before we ever see the complete Ignatius Study Bible OT. See the link for the countdown clock below, you can also sign up to be alerted to when it’s going to be coming out, at the time of this writing the clock is set for 10 days and so many hours etc., from now.
https://www.wordonfire.org/bible2/
Yes, Volume 2 of the WOF Bible will be released on January 17th. I received an advance copy from Word on Fire about a week ago, and I’ve been reading sections of it in preparation for a review. I’ll be posting a first look early next week.
There appears to be a release year for The Word on Fire Bible, Volume III: The Pentateuch.
On Google books the release date is listed as 2023, there is also an ISBN number for only the paperback edition.
9781685780289
the completion of the Ignatius SB will be sometime around 2054. And when it IS released, it will be too heavy for most to lift. If some Catholic ministry contracted with Zondervan to produce a Catholic Bible, it would be done in 12 mos.
More like 12 weeks
I wrote a little review which you are welcome to reprint if you want.
http://neilshort.blogspot.com/2021/12/first-impression-of-nrsvue.html
What are your thoughts on how the nrsv-ue translated 1 Corinthians 6:9? This seems to be to be one of the more controversial segments of the update.
I think the translators wanted to avoid making a characteristic about a person into his/her identity (when it was not the original author’s intent). That’s why they changed “slave-girl” to “female slave.” The first version is probably more personal than the second. “Sodomist” is personal. It’s almost like a scarlet letter. The other names in the list aren’t really identities. “Thief” doesn’t define a person like “Sodomist” does. I’m sure the revisers wanted to avoid language that causes a person’s sin to become his/her identity (if they believe the author did not intend it).
By the way—I believe NABre is nearly the best English translaton EVER. The New Testament reads rather klunkilly but when it is ready with the NT revision, it will be a top-shelfer.
For anyone still curious about the contents of NRSV Updated Edition but doesn’t want to get the Word@Hand digital copy or wait for the physical copies, Bible Gateway has replaced the original NRSV entry with that of the UE. You can now consult and compare to your heart’s content, free of charge. The 1989 NRSV text is retained via the NRSVA, NRSVCE, and NRSVACE entries; as such, putting the UE in parallel with one of those three will allow you to see the “updates.”