Would you believe it took nearly 500 years to translate the ESV Bible? That's because the ESV builds on the great translations of the past—including William Tyndale's New Testament of 1526 and the King James Version (KJV) of 1611. But the ESV Bible also builds on the best Christian scholarship of the last 100 years. The result is a fresh and compelling Bible translation with a timeless quality, that's trustworthy and true. That's why the ESV "sounds like" the Bible—with the kind of beauty, clarity, and dignity that we love to hear and read. That's also why the ESV retains the Bible's rich imagery and theological words—words like grace and justification and salvation—that are essential to our faith. The result is a Bible that conveys the timeless quality of God's Word and that remains trustworthy and true to the original words breathed out by God. As Moses wrote more than 3,000 years ago, the words of God are "your very life, and by this word you shall live" (Deuteronomy 32:47).
