My translation collection

Lately I've become interested in English Bible translations. It started a few weeks ago when I was looking online for opinions on the ESV and found the Better Bibles Blog. They have a lot to say about the ESV that's basically along the lines I've been thinking, except that they've thought a lot more about it (not an unusual occurrance for me).

The translation I've used for ages is the NIV, and during that time I didn't really give other translations much thought. When the ESV came out, it was just another one that I didn't really care about. It sort of got my attention when I heard John Piper's sermon explaining why Bethlehem Baptist Church was making it their official translation, but I still pretty much ignored it.

What really piqued my interest was my brother's curious habits during church. At the time we both attended an Anglican church that used the ESV in its liturgy, and often during the Scripture readings I would see him circling phrases in the reading printed in the worship guide. I thought he was being spiritual until I asked him one day what he was doing, and he told me he was marking awkward wordings. Linguistic analysis---I should have known!

His opinion is that although the goal of the ESV translators was to sound elegant, they ended up just sounding weird. In a later conversation he gave me an example that he thinks epitomizes the problem, Acts 26:29: "And Paul said, 'Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am