Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
Publisher: National Council of the Churches of Christ
Version Information
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible (RSV) is an authorized revision of the American Standard Version, published in 1901, which was a revision of the King James Version, published in 1611.
The King James Version has, with good reason, been termed “the noblest monument of English prose.” Its revisers in 1881 expressed admiration for “its simplicity, its dignity, its power, its happy turns of expression … the music of it cadences, and the felicities of its rhythm.” It entered, as no other book has, into the making of the personal character and the public institutions of the English-speaking peoples.
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, was published on September 30, 1952, and has met with wide acceptance.
The Revised Standard Version Bible seeks to preserve all that is best in the English Bible as it has been known and used through the years. It is intended for use in public and private worship, not merely for reading and instruction. We have resisted the temptation to use merely current phrases and have sought to present the message of the Bible in simple, enduring words worthy of standing in the great Tyndale-King James tradition. We are glad to say, with the King James translators: “Truly (good Christian Reader) we never thought from the beginning, that we should need to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one … but to make a good one better.”
…Abridged from Preface to the Revised Standard Version (1971, on the occasion of the second edition of the New Testament).
Publisher: National Council of the Churches of Christ
Copyright Information
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966, the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Quotations or reprints of more than five hundred (500) verses must be approved in writing by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., 110 Maryland Ave., Suite 108, Washington, DC 20002. Visit the website of their subsidiary, Friendship Press.
The Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (RSV-CE or RSVCE) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1966 in the United States. In 1965, the Catholic Biblical Association adapted the ecumenical National Council of Churches’ Revised Standard Version (RSV), under the editorship of Bernard Orchard and Reginald C. Fuller, for Roman Catholic use. It includes the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament, arranged in the traditional order of the Vulgate. The editors’ stated aim for the RSV Catholic Edition was “to make the minimum number of alterations, and to change only what seemed absolutely necessary in the light of Catholic tradition.”
Noted for its formal equivalence in translation, it is widely used and quoted by Roman Catholic scholars and theologians. It is used for scripture quotations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The 1943 encyclical of Pope Pius XII, Divino afflante Spiritu, encouraged translations of the Catholic Bible from the original languages rather than from the Vulgate alone, as had been the tradition since the Council of Trent. “It was in fact with a view to filling this rather obvious gap in the shortest possible time that some Catholic scholars considered the possibility of so editing the Revised Standard Version, on its appearance in 1952, as to make it acceptable to Catholic readers.” The proposal to make a Catholic edition received a warm reception from the American Protestant committee that produced the original RSV, but many obstacles arose in bringing it to fruition. Ultimately, the Catholic edition of the RSV New Testament was not published until 1965.
Although the changes in the Catholic edition were generally minor, its publication was a testament to the growing ecumenical sentiment of the time. In the same year, shortly before the end of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI promulgated Dei verbum, which states that “since the word of God should be accessible at all times, the Church by her authority and with maternal concern sees to it that suitable and correct translations are made into different languages, especially from the original texts of the sacred books. And should the opportunity arise and the Church authorities approve, if these translations are produced in cooperation with the separated brethren [i.e., Protestants] as well, all Christians will be able to use them.”
The complete Bible with the Catholic edition of the RSV Old Testament followed shortly afterward in 1966. No changes were made to the text of the Old Testament. Still, seven books of the Protestant Apocrypha (including the additional portions of Esther and Daniel) were reordered to reflect their status as part of the Catholic Old Testament canon, while three other books that had been included in the RSV Apocrypha were excluded as noncanonical: 1 or 3 Esdras, 2 or 4 Esdras, and the Prayer of Manasseh.
In early 2006, Ignatius Press released the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (RSV-2CE). The Ignatius Edition “was revised according to [the norms of] Liturgiam authenticam, 2001, and “approved under the same [i.e. 1966] imprimatur by the Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices, National Council of Catholic Bishops, February 29, 2000.” To that end, Ignatius Press submitted its proposed revisions to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and to the Congregation for Divine Worship, specifically requesting changes to those portions of the text used as lectionary readings. As with the original RSV and its first Catholic edition, the translation copyright remains with the National Council of Churches. The RSV-2CE is the basis for Ignatius Press’ The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, and is likewise used in Midwest Theological Forum’s The Didache Bible, a study Bible with commentaries based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The complete Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, including both the Catholic Old Testament and the New Testament, was published in Fall 2024. The RSV-2CE is also the translation used in the English-language version of the Great Adventure Catholic Bible, published by Ascension Press. Father Mike Schmitz reads from this translation in his podcast, The Bible in a Year.
The Second Catholic Edition removed archaic pronouns (thee, thou) and accompanying verb forms (didst, speaketh), and revised passages used in the lectionary in accordance with the Vatican document Liturgiam authenticam. It elevated some passages from RSV footnotes when they favoured Catholic renderings. For instance, the RSV-2CE renders “almah” as “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14, restores the term “begotten” in John 1:18 and other verses, uses the phrase “full of grace” instead of “favoured one” in Luke 1:28, and substitutes “mercy” for “steadfast love” (translated from the Hebrew hesed) throughout the Psalms.
Liturgical use and endorsements
Catholic authors Scott Hahn, Curtis Mitch, and Jimmy Akin use the RSV-2CE.
Although the revised lectionary based on the New American Bible is the only English-language lectionary that may be used at Roman Rite Catholic Mass in the United States, the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, has been approved for liturgical use in Ordinariate Catholic parishes for former Anglicans worldwide. To that end, Ignatius Press has published a lectionary based on the RSV-2CE, approved for use by the Episcopal Conference of the Antilles and by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for use in the personal ordinariates. The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom has adopted the RSV-2CE as “the sole lectionary authorized for use” in its liturgies.
In November 2015, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales sought approval to use it in a new lectionary for England and Wales. However, ultimately, the English Standard Version, a later revision of the RSV, was chosen as the basis for the new lectionary in that country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revised_Standard_Version_Catholic_Edition
The Catholic Church in Canada primarily uses the New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (NRSV-CE) for its official liturgical texts, including the Lectionary (the Bible used at Mass). It is the standard for worship and is approved for study, known for its balance of accuracy and readability and for inclusive language. While other versions exist, the NRSV-CE is specifically approved by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and is distinct from the US Catholic Lectionary (NABRE).
At the manse’s chapel, we use the Jerusalem Bible & the Good News Bible Catholic Edition
But we also carry many versions:
