The ESV Translation Oversight Committee (TOC) is a standing committee of the Crossway Board of Administrators. The aim of the TOC is to hold ahead the publication of the English Normal Model Bible translation and to protect the continued accuracy and constancy of the ESV Bible for this era and generations to return.
The Stability and Way forward for the ESV
With this objective in thoughts, we’re dedicated to sustaining a devoted, steady, and customary ESV Bible textual content that may meet the studying, memorizing, preaching, and liturgical wants of Christians worldwide. Crossway doesn’t plan to introduce frequent textual content updates, and it has been practically ten years for the reason that final replace in 2016. On the identical time, we need to be as devoted as attainable to the impressed and infallible Phrase of God, whereas remaining open to contemplating modifications that enhance accuracy and readability, bearing in mind new archaeological, linguistic, and textual discoveries.
In gentle of this dedication, the TOC met over the summer season of 2024 to think about a restricted variety of modifications to the ESV textual content. Briefly summarized, the committee made textual content modifications to 36 Scripture passages involving 42 verses, leading to a complete of 68 phrase modifications. Provided that there are practically 757,400 phrases within the ESV, this represents a change of about one phrase per 11,000 phrases within the ESV textual content. Along with the above textual content modifications, a restricted variety of modifications have been made to 57 footnotes, and some extra modifications have been additionally made to punctuation in 14 verses.
Provided that greater than 540 editions of the ESV are presently in print worldwide, the rollout of the textual content replace will take practically two years to finish. The primary copies of the brand new ESV textual content editions will probably be launched within the spring of 2025, and, Lord keen, nearly all of them will probably be printed by the autumn of 2026.
Two Notable Adjustments
One notable revision on this replace entails Genesis 3:16 and 4:7. The committee modified the ESV 2016 translation of the Hebrew preposition ‘el from “opposite to” again to the unique ESV 2001 translation “for” —which offers a extra pure translation in continuity with the historic stream of formal equal English Bible translations (for instance, the RSV, NASB, and NKJV), and which preserves the vary of interpretive choices within the Hebrew. The interpretive choices can now be seen within the different renderings offered within the footnotes: “Or to, or towards, or towards.” The conjunction “however” has been modified to “and” in Genesis 3:16 and 4:7 in order to not impose a distinction that’s not express within the Hebrew textual content. As normal editor for the ESV Bible, J. I. Packer (1926–2020) usually reminded the committee, “We respect readers once we go alongside to them the job of interpretive work, not going past what the linguistic particulars require and never foreclosing the interpretive choices.”
One other notable replace seems in John 1:18. “The one God” has been up to date to “God the one Son,” with “God” equivalent to theos and “solely Son” to monogenēs (as in John 1:14). This translation incorporates the idea of descent (which is an implication of monogenēs in context) and maintains concordance with the opposite occurrences of monogenēs within the New Testomony. The concept of sonship is evoked by monogenēs within the context of “Father” in John 1:18 and 1:14. The rendering “solely son” for monogenēs in a number of historical translations of the New Testomony for Luke 7:12, 8:42, and Hebrews 11:17 signifies the propriety of an identical rendering within the verses referring to the Son of God. The footnote for John 1:18 has additionally been revised to replicate extra clearly the manuscript variations, together with different renderings akin to “the one God who” and “the one Son,” permitting readers to interact with the total textual custom.
To God Alone Be the Glory!
For the reason that ESV Bible was first printed in 2001, greater than 315 million copies have been printed and distributed—with most copies being given away freely by ministry companions world wide—reminding us of the Apostle Paul’s phrases in 1 Corinthians 3:7: “So neither he who crops nor he who waters is something, however solely God who provides the expansion.” This encouraging progress testifies to God’s windfall and considerable blessing.
The phrases of the Bible are the very phrases of God. For that reason, the ESV translation committee and the Crossway Board of Administrators have undertaken their work with full consciousness of the gravity this entails, counting on the Lord’s grace, mercy, energy, and windfall—for the glory of God alone.
Because the ESV Preface reads:
We all know that no Bible translation is ideal, however we additionally know that God makes use of imperfect and insufficient issues to his honor and reward. So to our triune God and to his individuals, we provide what we have now carried out, with our prayers that it might show helpful, with gratitude for a lot assist given, and with ongoing surprise that our God ought to ever have entrusted to us so momentous a process. To God alone be the glory!
We’re so grateful for all those that love the reality and great thing about the very phrases of God—phrases impressed by the Holy Spirit of their unique writing, phrases which might be with out error in all that Scripture teaches, phrases which might be reliable and true for all of life and endlessly.
On behalf of the ESV Translation Oversight Committee and the Crossway Board of Administrators, we’re happy to supply the next comparability of the modifications permitted and adopted by the Crossway Board in the summertime of 2024.
