The English Standard Version (ESV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 2001 by Crossway. It is a revision of the Revised Standard Version that employs an "essentially literal" translation philosophy.
The English Standard Version (ESV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 2001 by Crossway. It is a revision of the Revised Standard Version that employs an "essentially literal" translation philosophy.
Work on this translation was prompted, in the early 1990s, by what the publisher, Crossway Books, stated was a need for a new literal translation by scholars and pastors. A translation committee was formed, and it sought and received permission from the National Council of Churches to use the 1971 edition of the RSV as the English textual basis for the ESV. About 6 percent was revised in the ESV.
The stated intent of the translators was to follow an "essentially literal" translation philosophy while taking into account differences of grammar, syntax, and idiom between current literary English and the original languages. The ESV uses some gender-neutral language.
In 2007, the ESV underwent a minor revision, and the publisher did not identify the updated text as a revised edition. The update changed about 500 words by focusing on grammar, consistency, and clarity. One notable change was from "wounded for our transgressions" to "pierced for our transgressions" in Isaiah 53:5.
In April 2011, another edition was issued, involving 275 verses and less than 500 words. The publisher announced the intention of the changes were to correct grammar, improve consistency or increase precision in meaning. The 2007 edition has been gradually phased out.
In August 2016, Crossway announced the "ESV Permanent Text Edition" with 52 word changes in 29 verses. The publishers announced their intention to leave the text alone for the foreseeable future after this update. However, this policy was abandoned the following month, with Crossway announcing that they would still consider "minimal and infrequent" updates to reflect "textual discoveries or changes in English over time". Lane Dennis, Crossway's president and CEO, said: "We apologize for this and for any concern this has caused for readers of the ESV [...] Our desire, above all, is to do what is right before the Lord."
The publisher, citing that the ESV has been growing in popularity, authorized an edition of the ESV with the deuterocanonical (apocryphal) books included, which was developed by Oxford University Press and published in January 2009. The publisher's hope for this new edition which includes the Deuterocanonicals is that it will be used widely in seminaries and divinity schools where these books are used as a part of academic study.
The ESV version of the Deuterocanonicals is a revision of the Revised Standard Version 1977 Expanded Edition. The team translating the Deuterocanonicals includes Bernard A. Taylor, David A. deSilva, and Dan McCartney, under the editorship of David Aiken. In the edition including these books, they are printed and arranged in the order of the RSV and NRSV Common Bibles. The Oxford translating team relied on the Göttingen Septuagint for all of the Deuterocanonicals except 4 Maccabees (relying there on Rahlf's Septuagint) and 2 Esdras (which had a Latin prologue and epilogue to the Greek Apocolypse of Ezra), which used the German Bible Society's 1983 edition Vulgate.
On 4 February 2018, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India released the English Standard Version Catholic Edition which includes the Deuterocanonicals. On 20 June 2019, Anglican Liturgy Press released the ESV: Anglican Edition featuring the Apocrypha in the back. The text of the Apocrypha has been updated from the original 2009 version.