THE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE
🔤 Translation family tree

Modern English Bibles

Some are revisions in the KJV family; others are fresh translations from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

1881–1885

Revised Version

First major official English revision of the KJV using older manuscripts and modern scholarship.

1901

American Standard Version

American adaptation of the Revised Version.

1952

Revised Standard Version

A major literary and scholarly revision in the KJV–RV–ASV stream.

1971 / 2020

NASB

Formal translation style; later updated for modern English.

1978 / 2011

NIV

A fresh international translation balancing readability and precision.

1979–1982

NKJV

Modernizes KJV English while keeping the traditional textual base in the main New Testament text and noting alternatives.

1989 / 2021–22

NRSV / NRSVue

Ecumenical editions appear with different canonical configurations.

2001

ESV

A conservative revision of the RSV tradition.

ImportantA translation can be published in more than one canonical form. Canon and translation are separate editorial decisions.