1901 ADCode: ASVModern English

American Standard Version

The American counterpart to the English Revised Version, celebrated for exacting literal fidelity and the ancestor of the NASB, RSV, and ESV.

Historical Sources & Antecedents

What Texts and Translations Did This Version Use?

The foundational manuscripts, earlier translations, and polyglots consulted during compilation.

1881 ADdirect revision

Revised Version (English Revised Version)

The American Standard Version was the American edition of the 1881 Revised Version, incorporating the preferences of the American scholars.

Approx. 92% textual contribution

Subsequent Lineage & Revisions

Who In The Future Used This Translation?

Modern revisions, authorized successors, and descendants shaped by this text.

1952 ADdirect revision

Revised Standard Version

The Revised Standard Version (1952) was authorized as an official revision of the 1901 ASV, modernizing Jacobean pronouns and grammar.

1971 ADdirect revision

New American Standard Bible

The Lockman Foundation produced the NASB as a conservative, strictly literal update of the 1901 American Standard Version.

Curatorial Commentary

Historical Context & Textual Significance

American committee members agreed to wait twenty years after the 1881 RV before publishing their own distinctive American edition. Published by Thomas Nelson in 1901, the ASV incorporated American preferences, notably substituting "Jehovah" for "the LORD" in the Old Testament and "Holy Spirit" for "Holy Ghost." While critiqued for wooden syntax, its extreme literal precision made it an academic favorite for seminary textual study.

Textual Legacy & Impact:

The direct ancestor of almost all major 20th-century formal-equivalence translations in North America (NASB, RSV, ESV).

Where Can You View Original Surviving Copies Today?

Known physical copies preserved in world archives and library vaults.

Princeton Theological Seminary Library