Editing Revised Standard Version (section)

== Features ==
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There are four key differences between the RSV and its three direct predecessors (the KJV, RV and ASV):

# The translators reverted to the KJV and RV's practice of translating the [[Tetragrammaton]], or the Divine Name, [[YHWH]]. In accordance with the 1611 and 1885 versions, the RSV translated it as "{{LORD}}" or "{{GOD}}" (depending on whether the Hebrew of the particular verse was read "[[Adonai]]" or "[[Elohim]]" in Jewish practice), whereas the ASV had translated it "[[Jehovah]]".
# A change was made in the usage of [[Grammatical person|second-person]] pronouns. The KJV, RV and ASV use the pronouns ''[[thou]]'', ''thee'', ''thy'' and ''thine'' to translate all instances of the second-person singular in the original languages, alongside their associated verb forms (such as ''art'', ''hast'', ''hadst'' and ''didst''). The pronoun ''you'' and its related forms are used in these translations only to translate the plural. In contrast, the RSV uses only the ''you'' forms regardless of number, retaining the older singular ''thou'' forms only in address to God (a fairly common practice for Bible translations until the 1970s).
# The RSV is the first direct revision of the KJV to significantly modernize the language used; for example, the verb ending ''-eth'' is replaced by the more contemporary ''-s'' to indicate the third-person singular present, some archaic past tense forms such as ''spake'' and ''sware'' are updated to their modern counterparts (''spoke'' and ''swore''), and the original case distinction between ''ye'' and ''you'' is removed (the latter being favoured in both nominative and objective cases).
# For the New Testament, the RSV followed the latest available version of Nestle's Greek text, whereas the RV and ASV had used the Westcott and Hort Greek text, and the KJV had used the ''[[Textus receptus]]''.