All is quiet...

Well, there have not been any significant developments regarding the ESV in the last few months that have come to my attention, but I will update this blog as and when anything important happens!

Free e-Book: Bible Translation Differences

Crossway have published a free e-book by Leland Ryken, entitled Bible Translation Differences: Criteria for Excellence in Reading and Choosing a Bible Translation. It can be purchased in printed form, or downloaded in PDF format. Dr. Ryken recommends the use of a more literal Bible translation, such as the ESV.

ESV Bible Firefox Plugin

Using Firefox? Search the ESV Bible from anywhere on the web with this search plugin. It adds the ESV to your list of search engines.

Battlezone Bible

Here's a photo of the new Battlezone Bible that will be published in September 2004 by Crossway. It's basically the thinline compact edition from the US, but in a metal case. (That means it has a very small 6.2 point font size, unfortunately.)

Back to God Hour

A short broadcast from the Back to God Hour radio programme, introducing the ESV to their listeners.

ESV Review

Moody Magazine gives the ESV a favourable review. I agree with them about the use of italics in word-for-word translations to show words that are not present in the original text: it's a shame the ESV doesn't do this.

Bible Translation Guide

Johnathan Tate's article, A Simple Layman's Guide to Bible Translations, examines seventeen translations and paraphrases. He identifies the versions that use formal equivalence, dynamic equivalence, and paraphrase, and he highlights abberational versions that are used only by particular sects. He lists good and bad points for each version, makes an evaluation of how strongly the deity of Christ is presented, and gives an indication of the theological leanings of the translators. Of the ESV, he writes: In this reviewer's opinion this would be an excellent translation for churches to adopt as their official version of the Bible. This is a fascinating survey of many familiar (and some less familiar) Bible versions, and it is concise and readable.

ESV Outreach Edition

From the American Bible Society's bibles.com website, this Outreach Edition of the ESV costs a fraction of the price of the regular editions.

"AS I SEE IT" review of the ESV

Scroll down through this issue of "AS I SEE IT" by Doug Kutilek to read his review of the ESV New Testament. He lists a number of things he would like to see improved, but is enthusiastic about the ESV and recommends it to his readers.

Explanation for English Standard Version

Dr. Vern S. Poythress, a member of the Translation Oversight Committee, provides this explanation of the aims of the ESV.

Studying the ESV

Kathleen Nielson expresses her delight at studying the book of Romans using the ESV.

Crossway's Official ESV Brochure

Crossway produced this beautiful full-colour brochure to accompany the launch of the ESV translation in 2001.

Comprehensive Concordance of the Holy Bible

The Crossway Comprehensive Concordance of the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, compiled by William D. Mounce, lists more than 310,000 references. The only items missing are small words like a or of. Unfortunately, unlike the Strong's concordance, it's not immediately obvious whether the verses listed for a particular English word actually represent different Greek or Hebrew words from each other - so you'll need to be careful if you're trying to find all the uses of a particular technical word. And for some reason, Crossway have used particularly thick paper in this book, so it is needlessly bulky and heavy... Invaluable if you don't have the ESV on your computer, though.

Daily Light on the Daily Path

Another classic devotional, Daily Light on the Daily Path: The Classic Devotional Book for Every Morning and Evening in the Very Words of Scripture, is available in an ESV adaptation.

English-Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament

Crossway have announced the The ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament by C. John Collins (Editor), Logos Research Systems (Compiler). This will be available in November 2004. I'm not entirely sold on the idea of a reverse interlinear yet - the Greek text is re-arranged to fit the English translation, so the original word order is lost. However, two immediate benefits spring to mind: it will be very easy to identify immediately the Greek word translated by a given English word in a verse, and it will also be easy to see where the English translation has inserted words not found in the Greek or has translated non-literally.

ESV/RSV Comparison

Making use of the OSIS website referred to below, I've configured this fascinating ESV/RSV Comparison. Using this tool it is possible to see how the ESV revisers have modified the RSV text.

Comparing the ESV with the NIV

Matthias Media's presentation of some of the practical differences between the ESV and the NIV for the Bible student.

Essential Evangelical Parallel Bible

The Essential Evangelical Parallel Bible is a similar product to the parallel New Testament reviewed below. This includes the entire Bible in four versions: NKJV, ESV, NLT, and The Message. It's a shame it doesn't include the NIV, but I can see this being extremely useful for a lot of people.

The Evangelical Parallel New Testament

The Evangelical Parallel New Testament contains eight examples of New Testament translation/paraphrase, all in a parallel format. The more literal translations are shown towards the left side, with thought-for-thought and paraphrase towards the right side. Featured are the NKJV, ESV, HCSB, NIV, TNIV, NCV, NLT, and The Message. Having the TNIV and NIV side by side for comparison is not really of much value, and I personally feel that the NCV brings very little added value to the collection, but the aim of the book is apparently to bring together Bible versions of the last few decades that are popular in Evangelical churches. (And the TNIV fits that criterion?) I would have preferred to widen the scope a little, and remove the NCV and the TNIV in favour of, say, the KJV and the NASB, or even the Greek. But it's a very good price, and allows rapid comparison of different translations. Excellent value for money!

OSIS Bible Tool

The amazing OSIS Bible Tool includes the ESV text together with many other translations and Bible study tools. Particularly impressive is the ability to display different translations along with the Greek text in a parallel view.

The Briefing and the ESV

Tony Payne of The Briefing responds to critics of the ESV in this article, The Briefing and the ESV.

ESV Review (critical)

Another critical review of the ESV, this time by Allan Chapple. See my comments below regarding Rodney Decker's article.

ESV Review (critical)

Rodney Decker offers a critical review of the ESV, explaining why he is disappointed with the translation. Hopefully reviews such as this will encourage Crossway to make future improvements to the ESV to make it as excellent as possible.

ESV Review

This review by Michael D. Marlowe of the English Standard Version can be read at Bible Research, an extremely informative website. In the section Recommended Theological Books and Booksellers, Marlowe writes: This is, in my opinion, the best general-purpose Bible now available. It is more accurate than the NIV, more idiomatic than the NASB, and I think it is second only to the KJV in literary quality. Suitable for devotional reading, study, and expository preaching.

Audio Bible at Bible Gateway

Bible Gateway provide this Audio Bible, which currently includes the entire New Testament as read by Marquis Laughlin.

The One Year Bible

The One Year Bible is arranged like a diary. For each day there is a reading from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. Unlike some reading plans, the readings don't hop about all over the place, but are designed to take you steadily through the entire Bible in one year.

Morning and Evening with the ESV

Morning and Evening with the ESV is a new edition of Charles Spurgeon's famous devotional, updated for the 21st century.

ESV Bible Online

ESV Bible Online is the online edition of the ESV, which is fully searchable and also accessible as XML.

English Standard Version Bible (Crossway Bibles)

English Standard Version Bible (Crossway Bibles) is the first place to visit. The official home page of the ESV!

Welcome

I've set this Blog up so that I can post links to useful Bible resources that I find on the Internet. On the whole I will only be including resources based on the English Standard Version (ESV) translation of the Bible. Being a relatively new revision, there are not as many resources available as for, say, the NIV, and therefore it might be useful to have them all gathered together in one Blog.

I may also comment from time to time on the resources, but those remarks will just be my own opinion. If you disagree with my views, hopefully you'll still find the links helpful!

Paul Taylor, Aberdeen

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11 ESV