The most important part of this post is at the bottom.

Crossway has done a lot of innovative and helpful things for those who like the ESV translation. They’ve made free modules for e-Sword, The Sword Project, mobile devices etc. and many other things I listed here (and got completely misunderstood and slammed for it here).

Lately a video has come out that really send negative vibes through me to put it nicely.

ESV Trusted By Leaders from Crossway on Vimeo.

A commenter on TC’s blog named Ronald (raddestnerd) wrote a comment that sums up how many of us feel. Both him and I respect many of the people in the video but don’t have warm happy feelings about it. He says, “I am not attacking or disparaging these individual Christians. I am sure they love God and care about people as much as any believer. I am trying to critique Crossway’s marketing message. Enjoy the tongue-in-cheek!”

An example:

Tullian Tchividjian:
What I love about it, is that it’s both accessible [except for Millenials, but screw them], and accurate [all other translations are inaccurate]. It’s both readable [but, if you weren't brought up in church hearing Christianese, sorry], and the product of rigorous scholarship [because the NIV -- even though it was a fresh translation from the original language that started from scratch, unlike the ESV that was a revision of the RSV -- is not a product of rigorous scholarship. Sorry Doug Moo and the CBT, your scholarship is not rigorous.]

Two things that bother me about the video are one person who says there are “word for word” (of which there is no such thing but maybe it’s just an antiquated term some people still like to use) and ‘paraphrastic’ translations leaving people who aren’t educated in these things to believe those are the only two types and you definitely want the type the ESV is.

The other is John Piper saying the ESV is the best ‘version’ of the Bible. That’s quite a statement to say the least!

I don’t need to say anything else that’s negative. You’ll find a lot of that and maybe for good reason. Here are some positive things.

Stan has a positive spin on the video in his comments on his blog post about it.

Keith Williams of Tyndale/NLT writes about the value of endorsements.

I would like to leave you with the most important part of this post and that is a link to an open letter to Crossway from Stan McCullars at his blog. If Crossway sees this that would be great.

An open letter to Crossway re: the marketing of the ESV

With the new NIV coming out, we don’t need another round of Bible translation wars.

Also see:
It is time for a truce…

I’m posting this a little prematurely because people are starting to search for it.

I will be updating this post as long as I find new reviews. Let me know if I miss any.

Ancient Hebrew Poetry:

• Upcoming Reviews on the ESV and NLT Study Bibles
• The ESV and NLT Study Bibles on Psalm 2: A Comparison (Part 1)
• NLTSB and ESVSB on Psalm 2 (Part 2)

Biblia Hebraica

• Battle of the Study Bibles: NLT vs ESV, Part 1
• Battle of the Study Bibles: NLT vs ESV, Part 2
• Battle of the Study Bibles: NLT vs ESV, Part 3

Challies.com:

• The ESV Study Bible – A Review

Christian Monthly Standard:

• NLT Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, NIV Study Bible, and “Heavenly Places” (Ephesians 1:3)
• NLT Study Bible vs. ESV Study Bible- Introducing the Prophets
• NLT Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, NIV Study Bible and “Quirinius” (Luke 2:2)
• NLT Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, and Jesus’ Genealogy (Luke 3:23-38)
• NLT Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, and The Beatitudes (Luke 6:20-23)
• NLT Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, NIV Study Bible, and “Satan Falling Like Lightning” (Luke 10:18)
• NLT Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, and “Hanged On The Gallows” (Esther 2:23)

Discipulus Scripturae:

• ESV Study Bible Review

Iyov:

• The ESV Study Bible’s pseudo-scholarship on Judaism

Kowalker.com:

• 100 Pictures of my ESV Study Bible in Calfskin

Miscellanies:

• ESV Study Bible – Pictorial of the black TrueTone

New Epistles:

• ESV Study Bible and the ESV translation

New Leaven:

• The NLTSB Meets the ESVSB on The Book of Jonah
• The ESV SB Meets The NLT SB on Col 1:15 – interesting comments

New Testament Perspectives:

• ESV Study Bible: First Impressions

Reformation Theology:

• Regeneration in the ESV Study Bible
• ESV Study Bible: Covenant Vs. Dispensational

Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth:

• ESV Study Bible (Review)

Worship Matters:

• Ten Reasons Why I Appreciate the ESV Study Bible

Updated: 7/8/09

ESV Online Study Bible
ESV Online Study Bible: FAQs

at Amazon.com

I thought Suzanne McCarthy and TC Robinson would appreciate these.

From Buttons for Your Blog or Website

I am a neutral party just giving them a hard time.

Hopefully somebody will find them useful. Please go to the above link to copy the code if you would like to use them.

ESV Study Bible Blog

Since the book of Esther doesn’t mention God I thought it would be interesting to see what it does mention so I Wordled it using the ESV. It didn’t turn out very interesting but since I took the time to do it I thought I’d post it. Click on the image to see a larger one.

Esther contains the longest verse in the Bible:

Esther 8:9 HCSB
On the twenty-third day of the third month (that is, the month Sivan), the royal scribes were summoned. Everything was written exactly as Mordecai ordered for the Jews, to the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush. [The edict was written] for each province in its own script, for each ethnic group in its own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

Esther Study on NLT’s Web Site

Introduction to the Psalms, along with the notes for Psalm 1 – PDF File

From: ESV Bible Blog

Various people have been letting us know about the new NLT Blog (New Living Translation). Editor and contributor Keith Williams has posted on other blogs when translation issues come up and also has a blog called the NLT Study Bible Blog.

Other blogs that I know of are the ESV Bible Blog and TNIV Truth, an independent blog.

Updated:
NLT Study Bible Blog
NET Bible Revolution

Any others?

I memorized Matthew 10:29-30 to music in the ESV. (See Free Scripture Memory Songs.) The ESV is rather awkward for this passage so I thought I would look at some other translations and found there is a quite a bit of variance.

I don’t know Greek and am not trained in linguistics or translation so I can’t say which I think is the “best” translation. I can only write about (or share to use the popular lingo) my own observations.

Anyone can look up a bunch of translations and post them but I hope to add some value by posting the REB and Lattimore; literary style translations that aren’t available on the web.

Matthew 10:29-31 ESV
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

As far as the passage goes, v. 30 seems abrupt but this is what it says and v. 31 extrapolates it.

As far as the ESV goes that archaic language comes up again. I’m not sure what “apart from your father” means. But fear not, there are other translations!

Matthew 10:29-31 KJV
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

ESV isn’t much different than the KJV…

Matthew 10:29-31 HCSB
Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. 30 But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. 31 Don’t be afraid therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29-31 NET
Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 Even all the hairs on your head are numbered. 31 So do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

I don’t usually like the NET but like it a lot here.

Matthew 10:29-31 Lattimore
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And one of them will not fall to the ground without the knowledge of your father. Also, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Then do not fear; you are worth many sparrows.

As usual, this literary translation flows very well. I like also instead of but which the NET leaves out.

Matthew 10:29-31 REB
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet without your Father’s knowledge not one of them can fall to the ground. As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than any number of sparrows.

I just got the REB and this is the first passage I looked up. This is a really nice rendering.

I like v. 31 in the REB much more than the Lattimore if only I would like to think I’m “worth more than any number of sparrows” instead of many.

Regarding HCSB, NET, Lattimore and REB: Where other translations just say “without/apart from [your Father]” these say apart from your Father’s will, consent or knowledge. In looking up without, Thayer’s says,
“ἄνευ
aneu
Thayer Definition:
1) without one’s will or intervention”
so I like the inclusion of that part if it’s universally accepted.

Matthew 10:29-31 MSG
“What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. 30 He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail–even numbering the hairs on your head! 31 So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.

All I will say is I like v. 30 a lot.

Now I want to get away from the critical translation comparisons. I want to study the Scriptures and use translations for insight and perspective. I want to guard against spending too much time on pitting this translation vs. that translation.

Psalm 131:1 ESV
O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.

I don’t know what “my heart is not lifted up” or “my eyes are not raised too high” means.

Psalm 131:1 TNIV
My heart is not proud,
Lord, my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.

TNIV clarifies this by indicating that it’s about pride and haughtiness. But are we not supposed to think of great matters or strive to concern ourselves with wonderful things that may for now be too wonderful for us to understand?

Psalm 131:1 NASB
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.

Even NASB is more clear on a couple of these things.

Psalm 131:1 HCSB
Lord, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I do not get involved with things
too great or too difficult for me.

I’m kind of surprised that HCSB uses the archaic word haughty. How about arrogant or egotistical?

Psalm 131:1 MSG
GOD, I’m not trying to rule the roost,
I don’t want to be king of the mountain.
I haven’t meddled where I have no business
or fantasized grandiose plans.

This is a nice interpretation of what the meaning may be.

John Gill on v. 1b:
neither do I exercise myself in great matters; or, “walk” (m) in them; these were not the subject of his employment and conversation; he did many great things, in killing the lion and the bear that came into his father’s flock; in slaying Goliath with a sling and stone only; in leading out the armies of Israel, and slaying his ten thousands; and he exercised himself in the great things of the law, which he was careful to observe, and studied the great things of the Gospel, which he had the highest esteem of, and desired to understand; but he did not seek human greatness, or the great things of this world, for himself; he had no ambitious views, or was desirous of the kingdom he was anointed to, before the proper time; see 1 Samuel 18:18;

or in things too high for me: or “too wonderful” (n); see Job 42:3. He contemplated the wonderful make and frame of his body, the texture, symmetry, and use of each of its parts; he observed the wonderful providences of God towards him ever since he had a being; and particularly he took notice of the wonderful love of God to him, and remembered and talked of, and declared, the wonderful works of grace and redemption; but not things above his capacity, out of his reach, and which are secret, or not clearly revealed: and such things we should be content to be ignorant of, or not to have adequate ideas of, or be capable of accounting for;

Related Scripture:

Romans 12:3 HCSB For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 HCSB
No one should deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he can become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness — 20 and again, The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are futile.

Philippians 1:9-10 HCSB
And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, 10 so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ,

(Emphasis added)

Philippians 2:21 HCSB
all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

There is plenty to be found on the Web about the ESV translation itself. This post is about all the other things that Crossway does with the translation. I can’t think of a Bible translation/publisher that offers anywhere near what’s available with the ESV.

I wish this blog had a wider readership and all Bible publishers would read it and follow suit to some degree.

If you’re unfamiliar with all it has to offer…

• Audio by Max Mclean which can also help with memorization as illustrated here by the Irish Calvinist
• A variety of Bible Reading Plans
• Clean, fast, easy to read Bible web site – Genesis 1
• Devotions
• All sorts of RSS Feeds
• Blog – which let’s you know when new editions are out
• Complete list of Bible editions with all kinds of information on each one and includes a PDF file of sample pages for each edition. This lets you see the typeface, size and how the pages are laid out. I’m assuming that if you print out these PDF files they will look just as they would in the Bible itself.
• Metal Bibles, Rubber Bibles and they used to have a glow-in-the-dark Bible (this is to say they have a wide variety of editions)
• API for web developers
• Best of all, it’s available for free in many Bible software packages including the free e-Sword program

Regarding that last point–I know other Bible publishers probably have good reasons for doing what they do but I’m very thankful to have a good, modern translation of the whole Bible available without having to pay for it, especially when I already bought one that’s in book form and when it’s freely available on the Web. I think this model helps the publisher much more than hurts.