New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB 1995)

The Lockman Foundation, 1971 — updated 1995

One of the most literal English Bibles in common use, and the edition many readers deliberately stayed with when the 2020 revision arrived.

The NASB descends from the American Standard Version of 1901, and it inherited that translation’s habit of following the Hebrew and Greek closely even where the English comes out stiff. Where the original has an unusual word order or an odd idiom, you can usually see it through the English. The 1995 update smoothed the language a little without changing the method.

The 1995 and 2020 editions are both included because they feel different on the page, and many longtime NASB readers have a clear preference between them.

How it translates

Formal — follows the grammar of the original closely, and lets the English be awkward when the original is.

Reading level

Around an eleventh-grade reading level.

Best for

Studying how a sentence is built and checking a verse you first read in a smoother translation.

Worth knowing: A literal rendering can still be hard to understand. When the NASB mirrors Greek word order, you may recognize every word and still need to untangle the sentence. Paul’s long sentences often remain long in English.

Read the NASB 1995 by book