The End of the New Revised Standard Version

This past month I have been doing my initial morning reading of Proverbs in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).  I had never read the RSV much so I was interested to see how the NRSV worked.  It is generally readable but I became suspicious of its reliability as I read.

The NRSV is billed as being “gender neutral.”  You can find more extensive comments on this at Medley of Worship but to sum it up the editors and translators decided that the feminists were right and the Bible was written by a bunch of Male Chauvinists who needed to be brought into line.  As a result they have consistently changed the word “son” to “child” and the word “he” to “one.” In 18:24 they change “brother” to “one’s nearest kin.”  In 19:14 they change “fathers” to “parents.”  Although this does not totally destroy the lesson in most cases, it does tell me that the translators are more interested in being accepted socially by their peers than spiritually by God.

One place where these changes became an issue to me was in Chapter 30.  To me this is a Messianic passage.  It clearly refers to Jesus and yet they change “son” to “child” in verse 4.  This takes away from our understanding of the text.

(Proverbs 30:4 KJV)  Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?

Do you see what I mean by messianic?  Is it just my imagination?

The edition I am reading includes the Apocrypha just as the Douay Version.  It also has the same tendency of that version to add to verses that are longer in the Greek Septuagint. 

(Proverbs 25:20 KJV)  As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.

(Proverbs 25:20 NASB)  Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda, Is he who sings songs to a troubled heart.

The NRSV reads this way:

Like vinegar on a wound is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.
Like a moth in clothing or a worm in wood, sorrow gnaws at the human heart.

Notice the similarity to the Douay,

(Proverbs 25:20 DRB)  And one that looseth his garment in cold weather. As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a very evil heart. As a moth doth by a garment, and a worm by the wood: so the sadness of a man consumeth the heart.

This is noted in the foot notes. 

As a study tool the cross references were weak in the edition I had but the explanations of literal meanings were adequate.

If you were stranded on a desert island I am sure that you could make good use of this translation but in a society that has a wealth of accurate translations it would be a waste of time.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1994.