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The English Standard Version (ESV) is an English translation of the Bible. The first edition was published in 2001 by Crossway Books, which also owns the copyright to the text.

Translation Philosophy

The intent of the translators was to produce a readable and accurate translation that stands in the tradition of Bible translations beginning with 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 is 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).

The starting point was the Revised Standard Version, and the ESV is best described as a light revision of this (about 5%–10% of the RSV text was changed in the ESV). Many corrections were made to satisfy objections that conservative Protestants had made about the RSV, for example, reverting from "young woman" back to "virgin" in Isaiah 7:14. The language was modernized to remove "thou" and "thee" and replace obsolete words (e.g., "jug" for "cruse"). Gender-neutral language was only used where the original languages indicated a neuter noun or pronoun, unlike in the New Revised Standard Version, where masculine nouns and pronouns were changed to neuter ones.

Textual Basis

(Paraphrased from the ESV's Preface):

First and foremost, the ESV is an update of the 1971 edition of the Revised Standard Version (RSV). It aims to replace the interpretations in the RSV which Christian conservatives have viewed as being theologically liberal, to improve the accuracy, and to update the language.

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.

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 was not appropriate to use gender-neutral language. After this, permission was sought and granted from the National Council of Churches to use the 1971 revision of the RSV as the English textual basis for the ESV.

Impact and Growth

Since its release the English Standard Version has been well received by both individual Christians and churches in the English-speaking world, especially among evangelicals. It presents a serious challenge to the enormous popularity of the New International Version Bible of 1978.

In February 2005 the first study Bible using the ESV text was released. The Reformation Study Bible (ISBN 0875526438) was published by Ligonier Ministries, with Dr. R. C. Sproul, a prominent Reformed theologian, as its general editor.

The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod has adopted the ESV as its semiofficial translation, with the 2006 LCMS hymnal to use ESV text.

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 1581344643. Ryken worked as the literary stylist for the ESV.

External links

2001 books | Bible versions and translations

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "English Standard Version".

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