Rating: 
Summary: pleased, pleased, and more pleased!
Review: After having read several excerpts on-line and then purchasing the new ESV for myself and my husband, I am delighted at such an excellent translation! I've always been frustrated with the extent of problems in so many of the modern versions and the annoyance of having way too many versions because someone is too lazy to look up the word "propitiation" in the dictionary. It's about time that word-for-word and clarity are used together in transmitting the Word of God. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that I'm more of a "TR" manuscript fan (due to tradition) than Nestle's manuscript. However, I am very unhappy with the NKJV (of which I have seen 3 different editions), and the KJV isn't something my husband is comfortable reading, so we at least are now able to agree on a Bible that is easy to read yet doesn't compromise the integrity of God's Word just to fit into modern culture. All in all an excellent modern version, hopefully to soon replace all the other dynamic equivalence versions. I'm excited that I can use this version to study, memorize, read, and share with my children as well!
Rating: 
Summary: ESV has it all!
Review: As a pastor and serious student of the original languages I have studied and used numerous translations (KJV, NASB, RSV, NIV, NRSV, NEB, NLT, etc.) I liked the NASB for its "accuracy"; I liked the NIV for its "readibility" and I liked the KJV for its "elegance." The trouble was...none of them "had it all." The NASB is 'accurate' but has a horrible literary style. The NIV is 'readable', but not as accurate as I like. The KJV is 'elegant' but doesn't make use of the textual scholarship advances of the past three centuries. Lo and behold, I spent time reading the ESV and discovered that I had finally found a translation that "has it all"--accuracy, readibility and elegance of expression! I've made the switch. This will be my primary Bible for preaching, teaching, memorization and meditation. I absolutely love it! If you are looking for a Bible that meets the high standards of the criteria I've mentioned (accuracy, readibility and elegance of expression) buy this Bible. You won't be sorry, and it may be an answer to your prayer. I bought the Heirloom edition. Fabulous leather, melts in the hand, and paper thick enough to prevent bleed-through of markers and pens. Please, Crossway, come out with an Heirloom Wide-margin edition!
Rating:
Summary: ESV has it all!
Review: As a pastor and serious student of the original languages I have studied and used numerous translations (KJV, NASB, RSV, NIV, NRSV, NEB, NLT, etc.) I liked the NASB for its "accuracy"; I liked the NIV for its "readibility" and I liked the KJV for its "elegance." The trouble was...none of them "had it all." The NASB is 'accurate' but has a horrible literary style. The NIV is 'readable', but not as accurate as I like. The KJV is 'elegant' but doesn't make use of the textual scholarship advances of the past three centuries. Lo and behold, I spent time reading the ESV and discovered that I had finally found a translation that "has it all"--accuracy, readibility and elegance of expression! I've made the switch. This will be my primary Bible for preaching, teaching, memorization and meditation. I absolutely love it! If you are looking for a Bible that meets the high standards of the criteria I've mentioned (accuracy, readibility and elegance of expression) buy this Bible. You won't be sorry, and it may be an answer to your prayer. I bought the Heirloom edition. Fabulous leather, melts in the hand, and paper thick enough to prevent bleed-through of markers and pens. Please, Crossway, come out with an Heirloom Wide-margin edition!
Rating:
Summary: Best Text-- Worst Binding
Review: I absolutely love this translation. However, I've gone through several different editions and after just a few months the binding alsways cracks in the "W" section of the concordance. I'm not alon; others have told me stories of the same problem. As much as I love this version, I've had to set it aside for a more reliable all-around Bible (my trusty MacArthur Study Bible) until the publisher can resolve this problem.
Rating: 
Summary: Get both sides of the story!
Review: I dare any Christian to read
The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God?
by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy
and look at the bible the same way....go ahead.
Don't let your fellow believers scare you with talk of going to Hell by questioning the bible. Do you really believe that God would hurt you for examining the world that he created?
Rating:
Summary: Best Available Modern Translation
Review: I grew up with the KJV and have used primarily the NIV for nearly 18 years. I had grown weary of the lack of literalness and elegance in the NIV. I began several months ago to seek a more literal and dignified alternative in a modern translation. I tried the Third Millennium Bible, which I highly recommend, but which is still too archaic for my daily reading. I then used the RSV-Catholic Edition, which corrects the RSV's liberal biases in the New Testament but leaves those biases in the Old Testament in place. Finally, I found the ESV. While not perfect (no translation is), it has provided the best combination of literalness, dignity, and readability in an orthodox rendering of any modern translation I have found. It will likely be my primary bible of choice for years to come, though I believe comparisons between translations and interlinears are useful and wise.
Even though I am an evangelical Protestant, I do read the Apocrypha. As there is no ESV version of the Apocrypha, I purchased the NRSV text version through Amazon. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate an RSV version of just the Apocrypha currently in print and the vendor from whom I ordered a used copy through Amazon failed to ship it. I would hope that an ESV with Apocrypha (including all books in the Orthodox canon) might be forthcoming. Like the Reformers, I do not accept that these books are divinely inspired, but believe they are useful for all Christians to read.
My dream bible now would be a parallel version with only the ESV (preferably with a full ESV translation of the Apocrypha or the NRSV Apocrypha in lieu thereof) and the complete Orthodox Study Bible (without annotations). (The OSB will provide the full Orthodox canon, with the NKJV for the New Testament and a new translation of the Old Testament from the Septuagint, using the NKJV as a starting point.) Such a parallel bible would provide a more modern rendering from alternative manuscripts for comparison.
Rating:
Summary: A new standard
Review: I picked up a copy of the ESV a few months ago. I had heard that it was accurate yet readable. I am happy to say that this is absolutely true. I've always used the NIV for general reading. Lately, I've wanted to do more intensive studies and found myself drawn to the NASB. This is a good translation for its accuracy but not so good for general reading or reading aloud. The ESV is very good at both accuracy and readability. I also have no trouble following along when someone is reading from the NIV. This translation has, I think, the potential to become one of the foremost Bibles for the 21st Century. It achieves a new standard for it's accuracy and attention to the English language. My compliments to the translators.
Rating:
Summary: The New Standard in English Bibles
Review: I was born and raised on the NIV, so naturally I have always tended to gravitate to the NIV for my Bible study. I have tried the King James (too archaic), the New American Standard (too choppy), the New King James (an improvement on the KJV, but still too stilted in its English), and the New Living Translation (a good read, but more a paraphrase than a translation). No other Bible seemed to blend accuracy and readability in one package except the NIV...
...Until now! The English Standard Version is not only truer to the original language than the NIV, but the editors have accomplished their goal of creating a word-for-word translation that doesn't suffer in readability. This is quite simply put, the best English Bible I have ever read, bar none! Now when I go back to the NIV, I can see where the translators have sacrificed accuracy for readability. We now have a translation that combines the proper method of translation (formal equivalence) with the elegant use of language that rivals the best in prose.
The Psalms come alive! The power of proverbs isn't watered down. The vibrant imagery of the Hebrew historical and prophetic books is kept intact. The rich, traditional theological terms are retained in Paul's writings. The gospels capture the full force of Jesus' words! Hats off to the editors of the ESV!
Rating: 
Summary: Good...but
Review: I was looking forward to this new translation - and am a little disappointed. It doesn't read as smoothly as the NIV in many places. For example: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:14). For the prize of the upward call? This lacks both the smoothness of the NIV, and the stilted ESL accuracy of the NASB.
That being said - it's a good translation in the sense that it won't introduce or support any new heresies... Worth having on the shelf!
Rating:
Summary: Good Idea, Poor Implementation
Review: I'm a pastor in a denomination that uses the NRSV as its
"official" text. I'm not a big fan of the NRSV because it often
uses inclusive language in a way that can distort the meaning of
the underlying Hebrew or Greek. There is also a subtle
theological bias in the NRSV (i.e., Gen 1:2 "a wind from God" vs
"the Spirit of God") that I don't care for. When I heard that someone
was going to do a new revision of the RSV -- which is a fairly good, literal text -- I was excited. The ESV is more inclusive than the RSV but less than the PC NRSV.
Good. It includes the most current scholarship. Good. These are
reasons that the ESV is better than either the RSV or the NRSV.
However, the Crossway / Good News printing leaves much to be
desired. The print is too small. The line breaks on poetic
passages are awkward and difficult to read. The concordance at
the end of the Classic Reference edition is inferior to a similar
concordance in my NIV Classic Reference Bible. My advice: get a paperback ESV, but wait until a more established
Bible publisher (Nelson, Zondervan) takes a shot before you spend
big bucks on a leather edition. I returned my ESV to Amazon.com 5 points for the text, -2 for the lousy publishing effort.
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