Exploring the differences in English Bible translations is not hard to do, however I have not always been able to find specific examples of where the NIV falls short of the accuracy of the ESV. Because of everything going on the past few years I have not devoted significant time to this issue, but I stumbled across this article where the Matthew Blair compares excerpts between the ESV and NIV. The renderings of the NIV do not throw the reader directly into heresy, but they do assume that the reader needs a little too much help in interpreting the meaning of the verses.
As mature Christians, we are given certain “enzymes” to digest the Bible for our selves – the Holy Spirit, the rest of the Bible, prayer and meditation - and yet we are tempted to settle for pre-digested versions of the Bible. I still love and will sometimes use the NIV (as well as the NLT and The Message, on occasion), however I feel that the ESV is more fruitful and accurate to read, memorize, meditate, and pray over… Thanks Matthew for your work to help clarify the issue!
And thanks for reading
Mickey
April 20, 2009 at 10:24 pm |
The ESV is a fine translation but many find it difficult to move from the NIV to a much more formal translation especially when there are so many “odd” or not normal spoken english readings.
For those who want to move to a formal equivalent translation but with the readability of the NIV may I humbly suggest that they look at the Holman Christian Standard Bible.