In case you haven’t checked the E-sword or Estudy Source pages lately, there is a new translation in town: the New Revised Standard Version has come to e-Sword.
That’s good news, as it is (for me at least) the last major translation I was eager to have for e-Sword. E-Sword NRSV can be purchased in two flavors:
NRSV with Apocrypha, with all the apocryphal/deutero-canonical books used by Catholics and the Orthodox, or NRSV Catholic, which includes the standard apocryphal/deutero-canonical books used by Roman Catholics. With the recent upgrade to the complete Catholic and Orthodox apocrypha, I don’t really see the need but for the one edition, actually, but there you are.
In order to use the newest NRSV e-Sword module, you will need Esword version 8.04 or higher, which can be accomplished simply by using the automated installation files on the Esword download page, for either a new installation or an update. This is a good upgrade, as it also improves several other features like the bible browser, and the sharpness of the fonts. The upgrades main claim to greatness is its support for true foreign language versions of Esword.
I know there are people who will always want a few more books in any bible (Enoch, Jubilees, Gospel of Thomas, Ignatius, etc.), but the NRSV is about as “complete” a bible as one can get, and has beeen since its original publication as close to a universal translation as one can get in these days of ever- multiplying English Bible translations. It is commonly used in many mainline Christian denominations, and has been for years a standard for quoting in biblical scholarship. NRSV’s New Testament has been especially well-received, not the least due to it’s senior editior being the late Bruce Metzger, author of both A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament and Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek, among other works. The Old Testament of the NRSV has always been a bit more controversial, as many feel it too dependent on the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, rather than the standard Hebrew Masoretic Text.
If you want some further opinion and info on the NRSV, you can look at this tag page on Rick Mansfield’s This Lamp site.
A number of other translations receiving attention in the biblioblogosphere recently are available for purchase at eStudy Source: TNIV as part of an NIV package; NLTse; and HCSB. Check them out.
