5 Things You Should Know about the ESV Bible Translation
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With Bible translations, choosing one to read consistently can be difficult. What makes this even more daunting is that there are over 400 English translations of the Bible. Which one do you choose?
What most people usually do is find one which becomes their favorite and they stick to it. While they may compare and contrast other translations, they often return to their favorite to read. If you are open to reading other translations, then one of the newer translations of the Bible is the English Standard Version (ESV). I will admit I didn’t read the ESV a lot before I was preparing this article, but I have discovered there are lots of good things to know about the ESV Bible translation. The more I read it, who knows this may become my new favorite translation, and possibly yours too.
5 Things to Know about the ESV Bible Translation
1. The ESV Is a 21st Century Translation
The ESV was first released in 2001, making it a translation for the 21st century. Even though it has a relatively brief life in print when compared to other translations, it has gained in popularity and is now used by many churches, denominations, and individuals all over the world. The ESV Bible translation is a blend of modern, easy-to-read English that sticks to the meaning of the original text.
2. The ESV Is a “Literal” Translation
One of the important things to know about the ESV Bible Translation is the type of translation it is. This translation is an example of the word-for-word type of translation, which falls in the same category as the King James Version (KJV), The New King James Version (NKJV), and the New American Standard Bible (NASB) to name a few. These may all read differently, but they are all word-for-word or literal translations of the Scriptures. Here is what the creators of the ESV said about their translation.
“The ESV is an ‘essentially literal’ translation that seeks as far as possible to capture the precise wording of the original text and the personal style of each Bible writer. As such, its emphasis is on ‘word-for-word’ correspondence, at the same time taking into account differences of grammar, syntax, and idiom between current literary English and the original languages. Thus it seeks to be transparent to the original text, letting the reader see as directly as possible the structure and meaning of the original.”
I don’t know which version of the Bible you read most frequently now, but if you are a student of the Bible, that description of the ESV should give you a measure of confidence in how this Bible has been translated.
3. The ESV Was Built on a Solid Foundation
When you are considering different Bible translations, one thing you must keep in mind is the people who are doing the translating. You should examine things like the translators' understanding of Greek and Hebrew, their commitment to literary excellence, and their desire to stick to the original meaning of the text. Another thing to consider is what texts they used in the translation from Greek and Hebrew into English. Here is a quote from the creators of the ESV Bible regarding the text they relied on for translation.
“The ESV is based on the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible as found in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (5th ed., 1997), and on the Greek text in the 2014 editions of the Greek New Testament (5th corrected ed.), published by the United Bible Societies (UBS), and Novum Testamentum Graece (28th ed., 2012), edited by Nestle and Aland.”
I gave you this information in case you want to lookup those texts yourself to see how reliable they are.
4. The ESV Was Created with a Team of over 100 Pastors and Scholars
The ESV was first published by Crossway and was spearheaded by a gentleman named Lane T. Dennis, who is the former president and CEO of Crossway. The initial motivation behind this work was to create a modern word-for-word translation of the Bible. To accomplish this, they put together a team of over 100 pastors and scholars. This team comprised an oversight committee and review scholars.
When you couple the knowledge and heart of the team along with the philosophy that went into the translation of this version of the Bible, you see this Bible has a solid foundation to stand on in terms of translation accuracy. As I mentioned, there are over 400 translations of the Bible into the English language. While many of them go through this type of careful translation, I can assure you all of them do not go through this type of rigorous process, so it is important to check. Since this team released the original ESV Bible, they also created the ESV Study Bible in 2009, which became the first Bible to receive the Book of the Year award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.
5. The ESV Has Been Endorsed by Some of the Leading Bible Teachers of Today
Some of the leading denominations and Bible teachers in our day highly recommend and endorse the ESV. Here are a few endorsements.
“We are building all our future ministry around the ESV…. The ESV satisfies the preaching, memorizing, studying, and reading needs of our church, from children to adults.” - John Piper, Founder and Teacher, desiringGod.org
“Meticulous care and passionate research make the ESV a crisp, accurate, and valuable translation.” - Max Lucado, Minister, Oak Hills Church of Christ
“After preaching out of the same version for over 10 years, I switched to the ESV Bible. I find it both accurate and easily readable, which is a rare combination.” - Francis Chan, New York Times bestselling author, Crazy Love and Forgotten God
I don’t know how much stock you put in endorsements, but these and others from people of different denominations simply speak to the quality of the ESV Bible.
Is the ESV the Right Translation for You?
With choosing a translation, we all tend to be a little dogmatic about the Bible translations we read, especially if it is the one we grew up reading,, or if it is the first one we read when we started reading the Bible. I used to complain about people who stubbornly held on to their favorite translations and refused to look at others. What I didn’t realize is I was becoming one of those people sticking primarily to two translations. While I must admit I will always have my preference in which translations to use, I would recommend the ESV as a strong candidate to consider for your own reading and study if you are looking for a solid Bible translation.
Earlier, I mentioned the heart that went into this translation. I will leave you with a quote from Crossway that encapsulates the mindset behind this translation.
“We know that no Bible translation is perfect; but we also know that God uses imperfect and inadequate things to his honor and praise. So to our triune God and to his people we offer what we have done, with our prayers that it may prove useful, with gratitude for much help given, and with ongoing wonder that our God should ever have entrusted to us so momentous a task.”
Photo credit: Unsplash/Tim Wildsmith
