Korean Revised Version

Overview

The Korean Revised Version is a Korean-language Bible that Korean Protestants long used for worship and Bible study. The Korean Bible Society took the 1938 Gaeyeok (Revised) Bible as its basis, revised its spelling and word spacing to conform to the Unified Korean Orthography then in effect, and published it as a complete Bible in 1961. The Scripture texts on ChurchWiki also follow this translation.

Background of the Translation

• Early translations: In the 1880s, John Ross and his Korean collaborators in Manchuria translated the New Testament into Korean. The result was the Yesu Seonggyo Jeonseo (the Ross Version), published in 1887. Missionaries working in Korea later formed a translation committee and in 1911 published a complete Bible containing both the Old and New Testaments. This edition is commonly called the "Old Version" (Guyeok).
• The Gaeyeok (Revised) Bible: Work to revise the Old Version continued, and the Gaeyeok Bible was published in 1938.
• The Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul): Work to reflect the spelling changes adopted after Korea's liberation proceeded during the 1950s, and the result was finalized in the 1961 edition. In its overall translation, it carried over the Gaeyeok text essentially unchanged.

Characteristics

• Proper names: The divine name is rendered as Jehovah (Yeohowa), and place names are transliterated by way of the Chinese Bible, as in Aegup for Egypt and Basa for Persia.
• Style: It uses archaic sentence endings such as "…hasinira" and "…hanaida." Its sentences are short and rhythmic, and it is regarded as well suited to memorization.
• Limitations: It contains many words no longer in common use and many difficult Sino-Korean terms. It also includes expressions that disparage disabilities or illnesses, such as sogyeong (a derogatory term for a blind person) and mundungbyeong (a derogatory term for leprosy).

Relationship to the New Korean Revised Version

In 1998 the Korean Bible Society published the New Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong). This edition retains the style and chapter-and-verse divisions of the Korean Revised Version while updating its spelling to current standards and replacing difficult and discriminatory expressions. For example, sogyeong was changed to maengin ("blind person"), and mundungbyeong to nabyeong ("leprosy"). During the 2000s many denominations adopted the New Korean Revised Version as their official Bible, and after it was also issued in a combined volume with the Hymnal for the 21st Century in 2006, most pulpits switched to it.

Interpretation and Issues

• Base texts: Translations in the Gaeyeok line are known to have consulted the English Revised Version and the Chinese Bible alongside the original-language texts. For this reason, biblical scholars have pointed out that some passages were rendered differently from the original.
• Differences in preference: Some churches and believers continue to use the Korean Revised Version because of its long-familiar wording, the verses they have memorized, and disagreements with some of the changes made in the New Korean Revised Version. Others hold that the New Korean Revised Version, which follows modern spelling and has corrected discriminatory expressions, is better suited to today's readers. Discussion of how these versions differ from the Revised New Korean Standard Version and the Common Translation, which aim for plain language, is covered in Bible translation controversies.
• Copyright: The Korean Revised Version is reported to have passed out of copyright protection, making it freely quotable. For this reason it is widely used in online Bible services and in a variety of other resources.

In the Korean Church

Most believers who were active in church life from the 1960s through the 1990s practiced Scripture memorization using the Korean Revised Version. In John 3:16, for example, the Korean Revised Version reads "저를 믿는 자마다 멸망치 않고 영생을 얻게 하려 하심이니라" ("that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"), whereas the New Korean Revised Version changed the wording to "그를 믿는 자마다 멸망하지 않고," replacing jeo ("him") with geu and myeolmangchi with myeolmanghaji. Because some familiar phrases were altered in this way, expressions from the Korean Revised Version still often blend naturally into sermons and prayers today.