Issues with the ESV translation of the Bible

Here is a non-exhaustive list of issues with the ESV translation of the Bible.

It is not a translation from scratch, but an edit of the RSV

In many instances, the word order should be revised to reflect the natural word order of modern English.

In many places it breaks the conventions of English idiom to, unhelpfully, follow the language of the original: "stands in the way of sinners" (in modern English this suggests "obstruct" rather than "mimick")

Similarly, the phraseology suggests something different from the intended meaning "he puts the lonely in a home" (Ps 67)

Damaris is described as a "man" in Acts 17; in modern English the Greek anthropos would be human or person, while man means "male adult".

Likewise in modern English, we say, "everyone should bring their own lunch", not "everyone should bring his lunch". See the ESV translation of, for example, John 6:57.

1st century Capernaum, with an estimated population of a few thousand at most, is described as a "city"

While in some cases, such as "city", words are translated consistently, but in other places it is inconsistent.

Romans 9:5 "race" here is very unfortunate, and inaccurate

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Bury, Greater Manchester - Timeline of churches

979? First Church on the site of the present Parish Church (the picture below is an artist's impression of Bury parish church in 1485). This was the only church in the town of Bury until 1719 (see below). 1585 Parish church (re)built in the gothic style . 1650 During the Commonwealth, Henry Pendlebury was ordained for Holcombe Chapelry. 1662 Having been ejected from the Church of England, Henry Pendlebury of Holcombe (1626-1695) held services at a Chapel on Bass Lane by Richard Kay, and others ejected from the C of E (replaced in 1712 by Dundee Chapel, Holcombe) 1669 The vicar of Bury parish reported to the Bishop of Chester that he heard several conventicles were "constantly kept at private houses of Independents, Presbyterians, Dippers and other such like jointly, of the bset rank of the yeomanry and other inferiors." 1689 ...

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This year (2025) marks the 500 anniversary of the translation of the Bible into English by William Tyndale. There were translations of the Bible from Hebrew/Greek into other languages from the earliest centuries of the Christian church. The first languages to "get" translations were Syriac (the area stretching eastwards from Antioch), Latin (Rome and western Europe) and Coptic (Egypt). Later, in the centuries from the 300s to 500s, translations were also made into Gothic, Armenian, Georgian and Ge'ez (Ethiopia) languages. There had been translations of the Bible into English before Tyndale. The Venerable Bede, a leading monk living at Jarrow from the late 600s, undertook a translation of John's gospel into English. Also, King Alfred (849-899) translated the first five books of the Old Testament into English. Later, in 1384, Reformer John Wycliffe and his followers completed a translation into English from the Latin (Vulgate). However, the institutional church durin...

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