For the first time the Anglicized Edition of the New Revised Standard Version is available from Collins, in a new centre column cross-reference setting, to create the best-ever edition of the translation most widely-used across the churches. The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is steadily increasing in popularity. It is highly respected among academics, including evangelicals, and used in theological colleges across the board as the most accurate translation available. It has been widely adopted across the Church of England and is in the process of being adopted for use in the Catholic liturgy. The NRSV is an accurate translation in the tradition of the King James Version, with special sensitivity to gender inclusiveness, without any loss of clarity, and retaining the traditional style of referring to God as 'He' or 'Him.' Completely reset in the highly-respected Anglicized Edition, along with cross references in all the standard text Bibles, this is the ideal Bible for personal reading, academic study, and for church use.

2008-06-23 A good quality translation, comparatively cheap & well presented (Softback!)

I purchased this New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible because I wanted a cheap hard-copy version of the Apocrypha. (My preferred New International Version (NIV) does not include an Apocrypha.)

I've never reviewed a Bible but, at the risk of suffering delusions of grandeur, I couldn't resist this one. If you're not familiar with the NRSV translation, a quick search within Amazon will turn up three or four titles which include Amazon's excellent `Search Inside' feature...

First, I have always gripped about buying modern, quality translations of the Bible because they're often expensive (though justifiably so). I bought a Zondervan NIV some time ago for a fiver, brand new from Amazon. I was dreadfully disappointed because I felt it was not `cheap and cheerful', it was `cheap and nasty'. It has a horrid "leatherette" (cornflake box cardboard) cover and, more importantly, an unpleasantly small font which is very uncomfortable to read.

So spending a tenner on this (softback) one was a bit of a gamble... The overall presentation is much better than my other budget buy: the cover is still thin cardboard, but it's more flexible and doesn't pretend to be leather. The paper is much higher quality though - whiter, crisper, smoother and thinner - and the font is slightly larger. I tried to find which font it is but there is no information. I would still have preferred a larger font - if this NRSV is produced in 8 point, then 9 would be an improvement - but because the paper is whiter the text contrasts much better which makes for a more comfortable read. There is also a basic cross-referencing system in the centre margin.

I went for the NRSV over the Revised Standard Version (RSV) because the NRSV uses sub-headings within the text (like the NIV) which really helps divide the text into digestible chunks and helps enormously with the context of each passage. The Apocrypha section, set appropriately between the Old and New Testaments, follows the same layout as the rest of the Bible, but I would have preferred a much more informative information page than the current five-sentence offering.

Still, it was the cheapest new NRSV I could find and it's a good quality product.