For decades, scholars have referred to the American Standard Version as the Rock of Biblical Honesty, and have held convictions that interest in it should be renewed and increased, with the chief inducement being its recognized value which deserves and demands perpetuation. Like our ASV predecessors, the RASV is resolutely committed to the Formal Equivalence translation philosophy, and has endeavored to handle the English text with both deference and reserve, intending this standard ought merely to be refreshed, rather than revised, or replaced. Changes made to the ASV within the limited scope of the refreshing of the English text include archaic personal pronouns (i.e. thee, thou, thine, thy, thyself, ye), archaic verb terminations (i.e. -est, -st, -th), and antiquated vocabulary, spelling, and grammar resulting from semantic shift.
