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394 of 413 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How similar is the ESV to the RSV?, February 28, 2002
By A Customer
As one of the people who worked on the ESV, I would like to respond to a comment made in a number of reviews--that the ESV is remarkably similar to the RSV. This is somewhat to be expected, since translations that are essentially literal in terms of translation philosophy are going to be markedly similar to one another--moreso than translations that are more dynamic in their approach. Besides, our stated goal was to improve the RSV where necessary and not to produce a unique translation (if such a thing is even possible). We wanted to stand deliberately in the Wycliffe-Tyndale-KJV-RSV tradition, so that echoes of it could still be heard in the ESV. Nevertheless, we made approximately 75,000 changes to the text of the RSV, ranging from the deletion of a comma to reworking of an entire paragraph. It is not fair to say that the ESV is only a slightly modified version of the RSV--we weighed carefully every word against the original languages and made changes where we believed they were necessary. The full extent of the improvements can only be seen through a careful comparison of the entire text, not just a casual browsing through a few favorite passages. I would also like to respond to one of the reviewers, who stated that the ESV was completed in two years, and then implied that two years was not enough time to make a significant improvement to a document with the size and complexity of the Bible. First, the project required three years, not two. Second, the fact that we were able to use the RSV as the basis for our text saved a tremendous amount of time--we didn't have to start from scratch. Third, we made the best possible use of Bible software, email, file transfers, conference calls, and other technology to which previous translators did not have access. This enabled us to complete more work in less time. Finally, we had some of the finest evangelical scholars on our Translation Oversight Committee and our Translation Review Committee. They were already experts in their fields, many of them having written commentaries on the books they revised. This also improved the turnaround time on the review process. I hope this sheds some helpful light on the making of the ESV. Thanks for your interest.
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127 of 132 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a Great Download, March 9, 2009
I have a classical studies degree and I must say one of my favorite translations of the bible is the ESV. Not only is it a tight translation, but it also keeps much of the unique sentence structure and flow I so relish in the classical languages.
I must admit that I was very very surprised with this book.
First off it was free so I expected nothing more than a bible that I would have to infinitely scroll through or search to find what I wanted. (However this in not the case) The book and chapter selection is nice and with a couple of clicks on the next page button you can easily get to where you want)
I was also surprised that the book includes footnote links to the measurements and other footnotes. What a great feature. (So if you are wondering how many feet in those cubits simply select the link and find out!)
All in all WAY more than I ever expected in a free book. I definitely did not expect to find such a wonderful version for free.
I would recommend it for anyone.
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43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best navigation for a Kindle Bible, so far, February 24, 2011
I'm aware that other reviewers commented negatively on the navigation, but that must have been for a previous edition, because i feel that with this one, someone finally implemented navigation correctly for a Kindle Bible:
1) Table of Contents allows you to jump to specific Bible book.
2) Links at the start of the book let you jump to specific chapter.
3) Book name printed next to chapter number allows you to easily find out where you are, when you're in a "random" verse inside the Bible... this is the most lacking feature in other Kindle Bibles.
4) When you are inside a book, the joystick/5-way controller lets you move between chapters.
5) When you are at the beginning of a book, the controller lets you move between Bible books.
6) And here's the clincher: special Index section, accessible via Kindle menu, lets you jump directly to any specific verse, if you know the standard book abbreviations (which are listed in the introduction). For example, to find John 3.16: hit menu, index, type jn[space]3[space]16[enter] and there you are.
Now to wait for other publishers to implement this quality of navigation...
While you wait, grab this one. Hey, right now it's even free!
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