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The Holy Bible · American Standard Version (1901) · eBible.org eng-asv · Assist With Scriptures

American Standard Version (1901) · eBible.org eng-asv

The Holy Bible

This edition is the American Standard Version published in 1901, represented by eBible.org’s verse-by-verse ASV text. It descends from the English Revised Version of 1881–1885, but the American revisers did more than move their preferred readings from an appendix into the text: they revisited the work and added further changes.

The translation retains a formal English style and a strong connection to the King James tradition. Its committee deliberately revised familiar wording where it believed clarity, consistency or source-language accuracy called for change. The digital reader contains all 66 books and preserves the ASV’s bracketed supplied words; 16 verse references that have no text in the eBible source remain empty.

At a glance

Books: 66
Chapters: 1,189
Stored passages: 31,086

Edition type: Translation
Edition language and script: English · Latin script
Tradition: Christian
Translator: American Revision Committee
Credits: The American Revision Committee · translator
Edition date: 1901
Translated from: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek; the American edition of the Revised Version, itself a revision of the King James Version. · View that edition

Sources for this guide

Sites and rights

Text source — Zip exactly as downloaded, kept in the archive. The text is its member eng-asv_vpl.txt (SHA-256 8924ef74086d572425b1e335f531c7c529a561969e5c851e456b84c2ce6ad858), whose snapshot is kept in the repository. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
Rights evidence — eBible.org details page for this translation, which marks it public domain. Retrieved 2026-09-27.

Public domain in the US.

Published 1901; public domain in the United States. eBible.org distributes it as public domain.

Rights evidence and source record

Open rights evidence · reviewed 2026-09-27

This public domain Bible translation is brought to you courtesy of eBible.org.

Reference system: bible

From joint revision to an American edition

English and American scholars worked together on the Revised Version. Their agreement gave the English companies the deciding vote on differences, while American preferences were published separately for a period. After the English revision appeared in 1881–1885, the American committee continued its work rather than treating that list of preferences as a finished translation.

The committee says it prepared an American edition after further review, including decisions that went beyond transferring appendix readings. Issued in 1901, the ASV represents a considered American recension of the English Revised Version, not a brand-new translation project isolated from earlier English Bibles.

American Revision Committee, preface to the American Standard Version

Revision as a set of explicit choices

The revisers describe choices about the divine name, words for the realm of the dead, modern spelling and grammatical forms. They also revisited many additional readings for consistency. Their preface makes clear that translation involves judgments about meaning and English usage rather than mechanical substitution.

The American edition remained formal and often follows the source-language structure closely. That can make its phrasing feel elevated or stiff today, yet the same close register can make repeated terms and translation decisions easier to compare with the King James Version and newer English Bibles.

American Revision Committee, preface to the American Standard Version

The American committee’s rationale in its own preface

The American revisers’ preface explains that the joint English-American revision gave English committees the deciding vote on disputed choices, while American preferences were collected in an appendix. After the English Revised Version appeared in 1881–1885, American revisers stayed organized and continued reviewing choices, especially after 1897. Their 1901 edition therefore incorporates a later American editorial program rather than merely repackaging the 1885 English edition.

The preface names concrete aims: use Jehovah for the divine name, use Sheol consistently, distinguish several Hebrew words more consistently, modernize obsolete English, and revisit paragraphs and punctuation. It also explains why revisers sometimes rejected a literal Hebrew-shaped phrase in favor of idiomatic English. These stated decisions make the ASV useful for studying a committee’s translation policy, not as a neutral copy of the source languages.

American Revision Committee, preface to the American Standard Version

The Holy Bible

From joint revision to an American edition

Revision as a set of explicit choices

The American committee’s rationale in its own preface

Languages, names and style

The text in this reader