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A new translation for the English Standard Version Bible is out, and it is already stirring up a lot of debate among biblical scholars.
The Crossway Board of Directors and the ESV Translation Oversight Committee issued a statement saying that the 52 words revised in 29 verses were "the culmination of more than 17 years of comprehensive work by the committee, as authorized and initiated by the Crossway Board in 1998."
Crossway insisted that the 2016 edition is a "permanent text of the ESV Bible [and will remain] unchanged throughout the life of the copyright."
But biblical scholars are objecting to the new translation because of changes made in some verses, according to The Christian Post. One such example can be found in Genesis 3:16. Previously, the verse read: "Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." But the new translation now reads: "Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you."
Northern Seminary New Testament professor Scot McKnight warns that the new changes, such as the one found in Genesis 3:16, can have a negative impact on readers. "This new translation of Genesis 3:16 suggests the curse against the woman is an act of God that seals estrangement, alienation and tension between females and males," McKnight says. "By so rendering this verse, the ESV creates the impression that females and males are contrarians with one another."
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"Some think they make women rebellious and men authoritarian in response. That is a sad and potentially dangerous interpretation for it gives the wrong kind of males a ready-made excuse for domination," he adds.
The new translation also changed the terms such as "man" and "brethren" to "human beings" and "brothers and sisters," so that the reader will understand that the writer is referring to both sexes and not just men.
But Carolyn Custis James, a professor at Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, writes in a post on Missio Alliance that "because of the awkwardness of the ESV translation, I've heard pastors in churches with ESV Bibles in the pews abruptly interrupt their public Bible reading to explain that the actual meaning of the text is "brothers and sisters."
"That modern linguistic clarification doesn't make the text gender-neutral, but rather gender-accurate — reflecting the actual meaning of the biblical text," she says.
