Korean Revised Version

[MBushell]

We just posted a new Korean Bible Version:

Korean Revised Version
Old and New Testaments
© Korean Bible Society 1961
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This version is free to users of BibleWorks 8. The update will appear automatically in the BibleWorks updater.

We are not sure what the differences are between this and the KOR version already in BibleWorks. The KOR version is one that is available widely on the Internet and identified as Public Domain of unknown origin. We thought it better to try to license a text with know pedigree and thanks to the Korean Bible Society we have been able to do that. If you are a Korean user please let us know after using these two versions if you think we can just drop the KOR version.

[Yaku Lee]

We just posted a new Korean Bible Version:

Korean Revised Version
Old and New Testaments
© Korean Bible Society 1961
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

.....
If you are a Korean user please let us know after using these two versions if you think we can just drop the KOR version.

I, for one, can say that you certainly can drop KOR. I thought KOR was KRV, and I see no reason at all to have the same version twice under different titles. We are currently using a new revised version of KRV, or NKR which was published in 1998. It would be really nice to have NKR as well, or instead of KRV.

Thanks a lot for having a Korean Bible in BW.

[Mark Eddy]

I do not speak Korean, but I have noticed a few differences between KOR and KRV. Where two verses are combined into one, KOR has a note to that effect, KRV lacks the note. If the BW verse mapping files work correctly, the added notes in KOR are unnecessary.
There are also a few differences of characters. I have seen perhaps half a dozen in a few hundred verses. I don't know if they are typos or legitimate spelling differences.
I have also seen a handful of verses where a KRV lacks a phrase in KOR. I could go back and look for them, if you wish, but I did not do so yet.
For what it's worth.
Mark Eddy

[Yaku Lee]

I do not speak Korean, but I have noticed a few differences between KOR and KRV. Where two verses are combined into one, KOR has a note to that effect, KRV lacks the note. If the BW verse mapping files work correctly, the added notes in KOR are unnecessary.
There are also a few differences of characters. I have seen perhaps half a dozen in a few hundred verses. I don't know if they are typos or legitimate spelling differences.
I have also seen a handful of verses where a KRV lacks a phrase in KOR. I could go back and look for them, if you wish, but I did not do so yet.
For what it's worth.
Mark Eddy

Since you, Mark, posted the possibility that KRV and KOR might not be the same, I did make some systematic comparison between the two versions with the Four Gospels. I first set KRV and KOR on “Text Comparison Settings” and used “Parallel Versions Widow” of “Tools | Viewing the text” of BW8. What a wonderful “Hinman Collator”! The text comparison was quick and simple.

I do not understand what you mean by combining two verses or by mapping files, but I found only minor typographical variations between the two versions. There are indications that KOR made an attempt to “improve” KRV typographically by manipulating with a space between certain morphemes, for instance, or by replacing duplicate consonants in KRV with corresponding single consonants, which reflect only a stylistic change. And these variations are not easily noticeable to casual readers because they are not that significant. It appears that it was a noble but an individual effort.

KRV is an official version of Korean Bible Society (or KBS), and a vast majority of the Korean churches officially used KRV until quite recently when a new revised version of KRV (or NKRV) replaced it. I believe many churchgoers still use their familiar KRV although their churches may officially use NKRV. KRV was published in 1961, and NKRV in 1998. And it took about a decade for the NKRV really to take off. I suppose I can say that KRV is in the process of rapidly giving way to NKRV in Korea. And if BW features both KRV and NKRV, it will certainly be a great boon to Korean Bible users. I normally have both BW and the Korean Bible CD by KBS open on my PC to do my Biblical studies in Korean.

I also find that there are very slight typographical differences, in particular in the use of space with certain morphemes, between the KRV of KBS and the KRV of BW, which I believe could easily be ironed out. Also I would like to point out that KRV and NKRV both have version notes, and I wonder why the notes are not included in KRV of BW.

Thank you for your concern, Mark.

[Yaku Lee]

I would like to add that KBS has five other important versions in addition to KRV (1961, a traditional protestant translation): NKRV (1998, a revision of KRV), Standard New Translation (1993, a current language translation), New Translation (2001, a revision of SNT), Joint Translation (1977, a Catholic-Protestant joint translation), Revised Joint Translation (1999). KRV and NKRV are based on formal equivalence, and the others are based on dynamic equivalence. All of these versions are currently in use, some very widely and others less widely. And each of them has an electonic version apparently in the same format, put together on the same CD by KBS (2005).

Since BW has KRV, we can say that BW has a Korean Bible. But if anyone wants to do a serious Korean Bible study with BW, one will find it is severely limited. If BW has all of these six Korean versions, then BW with its vast resources can really make a great contribution to Korean Bible studies. And that would be wonderful.