English Standard Version Totally Explained

Everything about The English Standard Version totally explained

The English Standard Version (ESV) is an English translation of the Bible, a revision of the 1971 edition of the Revised Standard Version Bible. The first edition was published in 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers, which also owns the copyright to the text.

Translation Philosophy

The stated intent of the translators was to produce a readable and accurate translation that stands in the tradition of Bible translations beginning with English religious reformer William Tyndale in 1525–26 and culminating in the King James Version of 1611. Examples of other translations that stand in this stream are the Revised Version (1881–85), the American Standard Version (1901), and the Revised Standard Version (1946–52/1971). In their own words, they sought to follow an "essentially literal" translation philosophy. To that end, they sought as far as possible to capture the precise wording of the original text and the personal style of each Bible writer, while taking into account differences of grammar, syntax, and idiom between current literary English and the original languages. The result is a translation that's more literal than the popular New International Version, but more idiomatic than the New American Standard Bible (which is commonly known as the most literal of the modern translations).

History

Work on this translation began with discontent (largely amongst Evangelical Christians) over the perceived looseness of style and content of recently published English Bible translations, as well as the apparent trend toward gender-neutral language in translations such as the Today's New International Version and the New Revised Standard Version, among others.
In 1997 Christian psychologist and radio host Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family called together a meeting of individuals concerned with these issues, and from it came the "Colorado Springs Guidelines"

, a set of translation principles that specified when it was and wasn't appropriate to use gender-neutral language. After this, the group sought and received permission from the National Council of Churches to use the 1971 edition of the RSV as the English textual basis for the ESV.
Nevertheless, only about 5%–10% of the RSV text was changed in the ESV. Many corrections were made to satisfy objections to some of the RSV's interpretations that conservative Protestants had considered as theologically liberal, for example, changing the translation of the Hebrew "almah" from "young woman" to "virgin" in . The language was modernized to remove "thou" and "thee" and replace obsolete words (for example, "jug" for "cruse").
The ESV underwent a minor revision in 2007. The publisher has chosen not to identify the updated text as a second or revised edition; it's intended to replace the original ESV under the original name. At present, both revisions coexist on the market.

Textual Basis

When necessary to translate difficult passages, the translators referred to the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible (as found in the second edition of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia), to the United Bible Societies' fourth edition of the Greek New Testament, and to the twenty-seventh edition of Nestle and Aland's Novum Testamentum Graece. In a few exceptionally difficult cases, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac Peshitta, the Latin Vulgate, and other sources were consulted to shed possible light on the text or, if necessary, to support a divergence from the Masoretic text.

Criticism and Controversy

Dr. Mark L. Strauss, who has defended gender neutral Bible translations like the TNIV, NLT, and NRSV, argues that the ESV uses similar gender neutral language. He wrote, “What is odd and ironic is that the some of the strongest attacks against the gender language of the TNIV are coming from those who produced similar gender changes in the ESV”.
ESV translator Wayne Grudem has responded that, while on occasion the ESV translates "man" as "person" or "one", it doesn't go as far as gender inclusive translations such as the TNIV and NRSV. For instance, it never changes "brothers" to "brothers and sisters".
Bible translator and linguist Wayne Leman has compiled a list of translation problems in the ESV.

Use of the ESV

Two existing study bibles have been adapted to use the ESV text: the Scofield Study Bible (Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 9780195278750), which updated the Scofield Reference Bible, and the Reformation Study Bible, which adapted the notes from the previous edition that used the New King James Version.
The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod has adopted the ESV as the official text used in its official hymnal Lutheran Service Book, released in August 2006.
The ESV Study Bible is due to be released in October 2008.

Sources

Crossway Bibles. "Translation Philosophy". Retrieved March 17, 2004.
Marlowe, Michael D. (Oct 2001). "English Standard Version". Retrieved March 17, 2004.
Ryken, Leland (2002). The Word of God in English (available online here - 1.2MB PDF) . Wheaton, IL: Crossway. ISBN 1-58134-464-3. Ryken, an English professor from Wheaton College, worked as the literary stylist for the ESV.

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