John Piper Reflects on 25th Anniversary of ESV Bible Translation
John Piper, a prominent theologian and former pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, has shared his reflections on the 25th anniversary of the English Standard Version (ESV) Bible translation, which was released by Crossway. Piper, who grew up reading the King James Version (KJV) and later used the Revised Standard Version (RSV), expressed his enthusiasm for the ESV. He noted that while the KJV became difficult for modern readers due to archaic language, and the New International Version (NIV) sometimes paraphrased the original text and leaned into gender-neutral language, the ESV strikes a balance. The ESV, an update to the RSV, aims to be both readable and faithful to the original wording. Initially, the ESV faced an uphill battle in a market dominated by the KJV and NIV, but its popularity surged with the release of the ESV Study Bible in 2008, which has sold over 2.6 million copies. By 2022, the ESV became the second best-selling Bible translation in the U.S., and in the past year, it was the most popular... 
