1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

The ESV

Discussion in '2000-02 Archive' started by neal4christ, Nov 14, 2002.

  1. neal4christ

    neal4christ New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2002
    Messages:
    1,815
    Likes Received:
    0
    What do you think of the English Standard Version (ESV)? I am looking into this new translation and I would appreciate your take on it. Please note strengths and/or weaknesses if you have noticed them in it.

    Thanks and God bless!

    Neal
     
  2. Daniel David

    Daniel David New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2002
    Messages:
    5,316
    Likes Received:
    0
    I think the ESV has been excellent.

    I might disagree over particular passages, but they are just becuase of familiarity with other versions and not becuase the ESV is evil or satanic or anything like that.
     
  3. kman

    kman New Member

    Joined:
    May 21, 2002
    Messages:
    299
    Likes Received:
    0
    I've been reading in the ESV for a number of months now. I enjoy it for the most part. I mainly use it when reading aloud to my children.
    It is easier for me to read aloud than the NKJV
    (just me..I'm a poor reader :( )

    Also..there have been a number of threads on the ESV over the past year..check out some of the threads from earlier this year or late last year.

    [​IMG]

    -kman
     
  4. Clay Knick

    Clay Knick New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2002
    Messages:
    220
    Likes Received:
    0
    I have found the ESV to be a good
    literal, formal equivalent translation
    that is transparent to the original.
    It reads well and continues the
    Tyndale/KJV sound when read out
    loud. The ESV is the first English
    translation I turn to for study.

    Clay
     
  5. BroChris

    BroChris Member

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2002
    Messages:
    125
    Likes Received:
    0
    I personally have never read out of it, but my professors at college have. They've told me that it has the "accurateness of the NASB and the readability of the NIV." I'm going to buy an ESV for my wife soon, her NIV is falling apart!
     
  6. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 11, 2001
    Messages:
    11,850
    Likes Received:
    1,084
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I give it high marks for readability; yet the transition is smooth for those who have cut their teeth on the KJV.

    Reading some familiar passages, I remark how easily it flows with language of the KJV without crying out "I'm different," yet different it is.
     
  7. Jude

    Jude <img src=/scott3.jpg>

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2001
    Messages:
    2,680
    Likes Received:
    0
    As I've said before, I expect the ESV to be the number-one translation for conservative Christians by the end of the decade.
     
  8. Ben W

    Ben W Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2002
    Messages:
    8,883
    Likes Received:
    6
    I find it quite good. I usually read the NKJV or I go looking at a number of different translations to verify a particular verse.
     
  9. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2000
    Messages:
    11,170
    Likes Received:
    0
    It is excellent. I believe it will become the choice of Bible-believing conservatives. Just give it time to catch on. Always takes several years, if not a couple of decades, for a Bible translation to catch up.
     
  10. Phillip

    Phillip <b>Moderator</b>

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2001
    Messages:
    6,708
    Likes Received:
    0
    You may very well be right because it is a good translation, but it is going to have tough competition with the new Holman Bible coming out soon. The ESV has a problem in that it is so close to its father, the RSV that many people do not like it for that reason; however, I feel it has corrected most of the RSV problems, but you might want to compare just how many verses are printed right out of the RSV.
     
  11. Marathon Man

    Marathon Man New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2001
    Messages:
    109
    Likes Received:
    0
    I would tend to agree with Tom Vols that the ESV is an excellent translation, perhaps the best available. The one big caveat I have with it, and I hate to sound like a broken record, is that I really, really wish Crossway would get a clue with it comes to making a first class quality Bible for it. I look at my old reliable Foundation NAS Side Column Reference Bible, and it's just so far superior to anything currently available from Crossway that there's no comparison.

    Oh,well, maybe things will improve over time. (Or maybe some other publishers will get ahold of the ESV).
     
  12. Clay Knick

    Clay Knick New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2002
    Messages:
    220
    Likes Received:
    0
    Call Crossway or send them an e-mail.
    Send me an e-mail and I'll give you
    their address. I've found them open
    and very interested in feedback. This
    is a new venture for them. Now if they
    would only let Cambridge publish
    their Bibles!

    Clay
     
  13. eric_b

    eric_b <img src="http://home.nc.rr.com/robotplot/tiny_eri

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2002
    Messages:
    442
    Likes Received:
    0
    Crossway has a number of their email contacts listed on the following web page, if you want to ask questions or give feedback.

    http://www.gnpcb.org/home/about/

    Eric
     
  14. mark

    mark <img src =/mark.gif>

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2000
    Messages:
    1,906
    Likes Received:
    0
    I am encouraged to read all these positives. I visited the website of ESV and got the impression it is a decendant of the Revised Standard Version, which was never widely embraced by evangelicals or Baptists.
     
  15. Johnv

    Johnv New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2001
    Messages:
    21,321
    Likes Received:
    0
    Maybe it's just my perception, but it seems the ESV translates not exclusively word for word, but also idiom for idiom, making it easy to read, while maintaining translative accuracy. Anyone else notice this?
     
  16. Dr. Bob

    Dr. Bob Administrator
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Jun 30, 2000
    Messages:
    30,285
    Likes Received:
    507
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Appreciate the good comments. Guess I am just a little "gun shy" to change quickly.

    Comments about its tie to RSV scares me. :eek:

    Comments about it NOT being formal equivalence scares me. :eek:

    Comments on poor quality of publication scares me. :eek:

    Would like to see and hear a lot more before I even buy an inexpensive copy for personal use. (BTW, it an "inexpensive" edition available?)
     
  17. Siegfried

    Siegfried Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2000
    Messages:
    689
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'm not an RSV expert, but my understanding is that the translation committee corrected the liberal-leaning translations of the old RSV. I had always heard that the RSV was popular among early fundamentalists until it was popularized in liberal circles by the more ambiguous translations in certain passages.

    One major criticism of the ESV I've heard in some academic circles is that it's actually more formally equivalent than the RSV. Where there are changes from the RSV they tend to be towards the more literal side.

    You should be able to get a hardcover copy for under $20.
     
  18. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 11, 2001
    Messages:
    11,850
    Likes Received:
    1,084
    Faith:
    Baptist
  19. Pete Richert

    Pete Richert New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2001
    Messages:
    1,283
    Likes Received:
    0
    I think you can get an ESV for 10 to 15 bucks. I got mine for thirty because I had to have the thinline, and I love it! The Pew editions are even a little cheaper but I think you have to buy those in bulk to get the price.
     
  20. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 11, 2001
    Messages:
    11,850
    Likes Received:
    1,084
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Pew Bibles $15.99 each, $6.90 in a case of 24.
     
Loading...