At Seven Springs, we believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God. Our confidence does not ultimately rest in any one English translation, but in the Scriptures God originally gave to His Church: the Old Testament in Hebrew and Aramaic, and the New Testament in Greek.

The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches:

The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by his singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the church is finally to appeal unto them. But, because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them, therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, that, the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship him in an acceptable manner; and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope.

Westminster Confession of Faith 1.8

The Confession speaks of the Old Testament as Hebrew because it is written almost entirely in Hebrew; a few chapters, in Ezra and Daniel, are in Aramaic, a closely related language. Notice, too, that the same section goes on to say that the Scriptures “are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come”—that is, into the common language of each people. Faithful translation is not a concession; it is the Church’s duty.

From the Original Languages to English

The Old Testament was written mainly in Hebrew, with some portions in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Greek. Every English Bible is a translation from these languages.

English translations are translations of Scripture; they are not themselves the original manuscripts. That is why the question to ask of any translation is how faithfully it renders the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek text.

Why Do We Use the ESV?

Seven Springs does not require its members to use one particular English Bible. Members of our congregation read from several faithful translations.

In our public worship, we ordinarily use the New King James Version (NKJV) for the reading of Scripture, while the pastor ordinarily preaches from the English Standard Version (ESV).

We use the ESV because it combines readability with a strong commitment to translating the wording and structure of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek as closely as clear English allows. Its translators describe it this way:

The ESV is an “essentially literal” translation that seeks as far as possible to reproduce the precise wording of the original text and the personal style of each Bible writer. — Preface to the English Standard Version

For preaching especially, that matters. An essentially literal translation lets the congregation follow, in their own Bibles, the words, repeated terms, grammatical connections, and argument of the passage that so often shape the sermon itself.

Our allegiance is to the Word of God, not to one particular English translation.

What Texts Does the ESV Translate?

For the Old Testament, the ESV translates the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, as printed in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. In exceptional, difficult cases its translators also consulted ancient witnesses such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Latin Vulgate.

For the New Testament, the ESV translates the Greek text of the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament and the Nestle–Aland Novum Testamentum Graece. The ESV also stands in a long line of English Bibles. Its preface puts it this way:

The English Standard Version (ESV) stands in the classic mainstream of English Bible translations over the past half-millennium. The fountainhead of that stream was William Tyndale’s New Testament of 1526; marking its course were the King James Version of 1611 (KJV), the English Revised Version of 1885 (RV), the American Standard Version of 1901 (ASV), and the Revised Standard Version of 1952 and 1971 (RSV). — Preface to the English Standard Version.

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What Does Translation Involve?

Translation necessarily involves judgment, because languages do not correspond perfectly word for word. Hebrew and Greek, for example, distinguish between singular and plural “you” in a way that modern English cannot. Grammar, word order, and idiom all differ from one language to another.

Here is what that looks like in two familiar verses. Each is shown first in the original, then word by word, then in readable English:

So translations will sometimes phrase a sentence differently while communicating the same meaning. Faithful translation is not merely replacing each original word with one English word.

What About the King James Version?

The King James Version is a faithful and historically important English translation, and we are thankful for the enormous blessing it has been to the English-speaking Church. Its language has shaped Christian worship, preaching, prayer, and even the English language itself for centuries.

Most people who use the King James Version today, however, are not reading it exactly as it appeared in 1611. Its spelling, punctuation, and typography were corrected and standardized over the following century and a half, most fully in the Oxford edition of 1769, and modern printings follow those later editions. You can see the difference in a single verse:

The translations also differ in the Greek text they translate. The KJV New Testament was translated from the printed Greek text later called the Textus Receptus. The NKJV keeps that text in its main text, and its notes show where other Greek texts read differently. The ESV ordinarily follows the modern critical text, which gives significant weight to the earliest manuscripts. These traditions weigh the manuscript evidence differently; each seeks the words the apostles wrote.

So the issue is not an old Bible against a new one. The question is: How faithfully does an English translation represent the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Scriptures?