Recently I purchased a copy of the ESV Bible. A couple of guys whose podcasts I listen to (John Piper and Mark Driscoll) rave about the ESV, so I thought I'd check it out. So far, I like what I see (I'm hoping to read through it in 2008).For the first several years of my ministry, I preached exclusively from the New American Standard Bible (NASB). However, I started to notice that most of the people in the pews were carrying the New International Version (NIV). Wanting people to be able to "follow along" in their own Bibles, I reluctantly started preaching from the NIV, and have been doing so for about 16 years. Now I'm so accustomed to the NIV that I have a hard time preaching from the NAS (I tend to stumble over the words). My friend David Willis told me that he has the same problem.
I'm looking forward to exploring the ESV. Dr. Jack Cottrell endorsed it, so it must be good, right?
What say you? What is your favorite Bible translation?
12 comments:
Hi Mike!
I use the NIV almost exclusively ... but I went through a time for about a year where I used ESV and I like it a lot.
I use the Contemporary English Version a lot for our teen service but I typically get my main text from the NIV for the same reason of allowing them to follow along.
I often will mix it up, because of the variety in the congregation, by saying in the NIV it reads, and the NAS reads, sometimes giving two or three versions. Jim
I've been twempted to switch, but the NIV is so prevalent that i just stay with it as my main preaching version. I do like the NASB & ESV (& the HCSB seems to be pretty good too.)
i preach out of a NIV/NASB parallel have read through the ESV this year and often take it when I am not teaching/preaching.
it's really good, but since our pew bibles are NIV, I will prob mainly preach from that.
I've been a NASB guy for years- at least for personal study. Most of my preaching is from the NIV. Recently I was given the ESV as a gift (the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible). It's all good.
I use the NIV but sometimes use the Message now and then!! Though I'm liking Holoman Standard.
I use the NLT and the NIV. Occasionally I use The Message, the KJV and the NASB when I find it convenient for proof texting.
Renovare' is using the ESV as well as the NRSV? Very interesting! My personal preference is for the NRSV, but I use the ESV almost as much.
Surprisingly, I believe the NLT handles Greek verbs better than any other translation I've encountered.
in HIS love,
Nick
I prefer to just translate directly from the Hebrew and Greek. (Yeah right) I usually flip between the NIV for easability and the NASB for accuracy. However, I have liked the ESV and even the New Century in study.
"'I hate divorce,' says the LORD God of Israel..." - Malachi 2:16
You won't find that wording in the ESV.
Mike,
I've been meaning to post here for a long time.
I use the ESV to speak to my college students. They have responded well to the different wordings and some have even gone out and purchased copies of the ESV for themselves.
In addition to the ESV, I really enjoy reading the Holman Christian Standard Bible. I think it's very accurate as well, but they have changed some of the wordings to make it a bit more "readable."
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