Some think, but not all, that some of the Old Testament passages are a little “wooden”, so literally “word for word”, that they are hard to read. Most scholars rank the NAS as a bit more literal word for word translation. What are the differences between ESV and NAS? The ESV is popular, among other reasons, because it is translated in a “current literary English.” Or, to put it another way, the ESV is understandable and sounds like current English literature. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Thus it seeks to be transparent to the original text, letting the reader see as directly as possible the structure and meaning of the original.” As such, its emphasis is on “word-for-word” correspondence, at the same time taking into account differences of grammar, syntax, and idiom between current literary English and the original languages. “The ESV is an “essentially literal” translation that seeks as far as possible to capture the precise wording of the original text and the personal style of each Bible writer. English Bible students have always wanted to know exactly what the text said so they could be the ones to determine for themselves the meaning. And they worked at being as literal as possible. The NASB has always been popular with serious Bible students because the translators tried to “render the grammar and terminology” of the original languages into English. New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. In the instances where this has been done, the more literal rendering has been indicated in the notes.”
When it was felt that the word-for-word literalness was unacceptable to the modern reader, a change was made in the direction of a more current English idiom. “Modern English Usage: The attempt has been made to render the grammar and terminology in contemporary English. What made the New American Standard so popular? And scholars often place the New International Version in the middle of the scale. Bibles like The Message and The Living Bible are much more on the dynamic equivalent side of the scale. Translations like the King James Version, American Standard, New American Standard, and English Standard are on the more literal side of the spectrum. Leland Ryken, The Word of God In English. “Briefly stated, the theory of dynamic equivalence in Bible translation emphasizes the reaction of the reader to the translated text, rather than the translation of the words and phrases themselves.” The goal is to translate the idea or thought in the original language to a corresponding thought in English. This is commonly referred to as a thought for thought translation or a paraphrase. In the mid-twentieth century the idea of a dynamic equivalent was introduced. However, the title is a little misleading because we cannot effectively translate exactly word for word from the Biblical languages into English without the end result being unreadable. This method is often referred to as a literal or word for word translation.
In other words the translator’s aim was to be as literal as possible and still be readable. Until the twentieth century the philosophy of Bible translation was to translate the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words of the Bible into the closest possible equivalent in English. The goal of a Bible translation is obviously to help the reader understand the text. But before we talk about the ESV versus the NAS we need to share a little background. When Precept Ministries offered the New Inductive Study Bible in the NAS and ESV those were the questions a lot of our friends were asking. I have a New American Standard Bible, do I need to switch to an English Standard Version? What is the difference anyway? Is one better than the other?