The English Standard Version (ESV) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Published in 2001 by Crossway, the ESV was "created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors." The ESV relies on recently published critical editions of the original Hebrew and Greek texts.
Crossway claims that the ESV continues a legacy of precision and faithfulness in English translation of the original text. It describes the ESV as a translation that "emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning." It also describes the ESV as a translation that adheres to an "essentially literal" translation philosophy, taking into account "differences in grammar, syntax, and idiom between current literary English and the original languages."
Since publication, the ESV has been endorsed by numerous evangelical pastors and theologians, including John Piper, R. C. Sproul, and Kevin DeYoung. As of July 2015, over 100 million printed copies of the translation had been distributed. By 2021, this figure had increased to 250 million.
During the early 1990s, Crossway president Lane T. Dennis engaged in discussions with various Christian scholars and pastors regarding the need for a new literal translation of the Bible. In 1997, Dennis contacted the National Council of Churches (NCC) and proceeded to enter negotiations, alongside Trinity Evangelical Divinity School professor Wayne Grudem, to obtain rights to use the 1971 text edition of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) as the starting point for a new translation. In September 1998, an agreement was reached with the NCC for Crossway to use and modify the 1971 RSV text, thereby enabling the creation of a new translation. Crossway moved forward from this position by forming a translation committee and initiating work on the English Standard Version. Crossway officially published the ESV in 2001.
In 1999, World reported of "feminists" noticing links between Crossway and the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW). CBMW had been involved in criticizing plans that were made by Zondervan's Committee on Bible Translation[c] to include gender-neutral language in the New International Version. Grudem, who was president of CBMW at the time, responded by stating, "This [the ESV translation] is not a CBMW project."
Chaired by Dennis and aided by over fifty biblical experts working as review scholars, the original ESV translation committee—consisting of fourteen members—features the following notable individuals:
Dr. Wayne A. Grudem (Research Professor, Theology and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary)
Dr. R. Kent Hughes (Senior Pastor Emeritus, College Church in Wheaton)
Dr. J. I. Packer (Board of Governors Professor of Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada)
Dr. Vern Sheridan Poythress (Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Westminster Theological Seminary; Editor, Westminster Theological Journal)
Dr. Gordon Wenham (Old Testament Tutor at Trinity College, Bristol; Emeritus Professor of Old Testament, University of Gloucestershire)
In 2008, Crossway published the ESV Study Bible, which would go on to sell over 1 million copies. In 2009, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association named the ESV Study Bible as Christian Book of the Year. This was the first time in the award's 30-year history to be given to a study Bible.
At the 2008 annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mark L. Strauss presented a paper titled "Why the English Standard Version should not become the Standard English Version: How to make a good translation much better." In the paper, Strauss criticizes the ESV for using dated language, among other perceived issues, such as using gender-neutral language inconsistently in translation. Regarding scholarly debate surrounding translation philosophy, ESV translator William D. Mounce responded to Strauss's criticism:
While the content of the paper was helpful, I am afraid that it only increased the gap between the two "sides" of the [translation philosophy] debate. ... He kept saying that the ESV has "missed" or "not considered" certain translational issues. While I am sure they were not intentional, these are emotionally charged words that do not help in the debate. They are in essence ad hominem arguments focusing on our competence (or perceived lack thereof) and not on the facts. He was not in the translation meetings and does not know if we in fact did miss or did not consider these issues. ... The solution to this debate is to recognize that there are different translation philosophies, different goals and means by which to reach those goals, and the goal of the translator is to be consistent in achieving those goals. In all but one of his examples, our translation was the one required by our translation philosophy.
Strauss invited Mounce to publicly engage in the translation philosophy debate through participation at the following annual meeting. In 2009, Mounce presented his response paper, titled "Can the ESV and TNIV Co-Exist in the Same Universe?" In the paper, Mounce describes various points regarding his view of the need for both formal and functional translations.
In 2019, University of Oklahoma Sociology Associate Professor Samuel L. Perry published a journal article titled "The Bible as a Product of Cultural Power: The Case of Gender Ideology in the English Standard Version." In the paper, Perry attempts to demonstrate "how a more critical approach toward 'the Bible' can provide richer, more sophisticated sociological analyses of power and cultural reproduction within Christian traditions." Perry argues that Crossway's ESV translation committee made "intentional, systematic changes" into the ESV for the purpose of being able to "publish and mass-market a text more amenable to conservative, complementarian interpretations." Perry further argues that the ESV translation committee "have engaged in more covert means of cultural reproduction, not only disseminating their interpretation of the biblical text, but manipulating the text itself." The ESV Study Bible often details in its study notes why a complementarian interpretation of the original text may have been rendered in translation.
In 2020, the Ireland-based Association of Catholic Priests criticized the ESV for its position on the use of gender-neutral language, perceiving the use of terms such as "mankind" and "brothers" to be "not just out of sync with modern usage but are culturally regarded as diminishing and disrespectful of women."
In June 2021, Samuel L. Perry published a journal article titled "Whitewashing Evangelical Scripture: The Case of Slavery and Antisemitism in the English Standard Version." In the paper, Perry attempts to demonstrate how "the ESV editors, while modifying certain RSV renderings to establish transitivity for their text among complementarian/biblicist Christians, sought to establish intransitivity between the text and more pejorative social interpretations by progressively re-translating lexically ambiguous terms and introducing footnotes to obviate the Bible’s ostensible promotion of slavery and antisemitism." In turn, Perry was interviewed by Salon regarding the content of the paper. In July 2021, Bible Study Magazine editor Mark Ward published an article to his personal blog in response:
Perry raises very important questions about Bible interpretation, and about the proper translation of fought-over words like "slave" and "Jew." ... So I carefully read not only the Salon interview but also the scholarly article in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion which gave rise to it. ... They [both] carry the same basic message. And that message is full of frankly cynical, acidic ideas about Bible study ... The first step in interpretation should be transitivity. You should try to fit what you read in the Bible in with your existing tradition. That's simple hermeneutical humility—as long as it's paired with a sincere desire to hold one’s tradition up to the light of Scripture. ... I can be grateful to Perry for some sharp observations, even some warning shots, while still insisting that any view that muzzles God, that severs the link between his intentions and his words, is rebellion. ... To offer "establishing transitivity with existing views" as a wholly sufficient view of evangelical Bible use is to take a small truth and make it the whole truth. It is to say to God, "We can't hear you because other people are talking."
Relationship to the Revised Standard Version
The ESV is derived from the 1971 text edition of the Revised Standard Version. ESV translation committee member Wayne Grudem claims that approximately eight percent (or about 60,000 words) of the 1971 RSV text being used for the ESV was revised as of first publication in 2001. Grudem states that the committee removed "every trace of liberal influence that had caused such criticism from evangelicals when the RSV was first published in 1952." Although, Grudem also states that much of the 1971 RSV text left unchanged by the committee "is simply 'the best of the best' of the KJV tradition."
Theologian Tim Challies has praised the ESV for its commitment to literary excellence:
... the book that has most shaped my writing is the Bible—the ESV. Not only is this the book I’ve read most over the years, but it’s also the book I’ve studied the closest, and memorized most substantially. And then, of all the books I’ve read, it’s one of the finest in its literary quality. ... One thing I’ve always loved about the ESV is its superior use of the English language. Any translation involves a trade-off between precision and readability so that the most-literal translations also tend to be the least-readable. Though the ESV is a precise Bible, its translators chose to place a premium on literary excellence. ... They succeeded well, and the Bible they translated is beautiful to read—far more than any of its contemporaries.
Crossway claims that the ESV "retains theological terminology—words such as grace, faith, justification, sanctification, redemption, regeneration, reconciliation, propitiation—because of their central importance for Christian doctrine and also because the underlying Greek words were already becoming key words and technical terms among Christians in New Testament times." It also claims that the ESV lets the distinct writing styles of the various biblical writers come through the translated text.
The ESV translation committee states that "the goal of the ESV is to render literally what is in the original." The committee expands on this position in claiming that, although the ESV avoids using gender-neutral language (for the purpose of preserving contextual meaning found in the original text), the translation does utilize gender-neutral language in specific cases. The committee further state that their objective was "transparency to the original text, allowing the reader to understand the original on its own terms rather than in the terms of our present-day Western culture."