Two days ago, in a blog entry, "Truth Unchanged Changed," I noted a discovery posted by David Dewey on the Bible Translation Discussion List that the preview of the forthcoming ESV Reverse Interlinear pointed to a revised ESV text. Speculation about when Crossway would release the revision has been building over the past few weeks, and the change in the ESV's reading of ACTS 1:3 seemed to indicate such a release would be soon. I suggested in the original blog that if nothing else, we would see a partial text "released initially by way of the ESV Reverse Interlinear since this volume is now being printed." Dewey himself responded to my post in the comments asking "Can we invite them [Crossway], through your blog, to come clean and to put an end to all this speculation?"

Well, the all-seeing eye of Crossway has struck again and this morning they answered the invitation. Stephen Smith, webmaster for Crossway/Good News Publishers and the ESV Bible Blog, sent me an email that not only acknowledged the updated ESV, but also gave a general timetable for the revision's release. In the email, he wrote that we "won’t see any changes to the ESV in print--apart from the reverse interlinear--before 2007."

Here's the official word from Crossway which Smith gave me permission to quote:

We do plan to make a limited number of changes, similar to what most other translations have done a few years after they were first released for publication, though our sense is that the number of changes that we anticipate will be quite a bit less than typically is the case. The vast majority of these involve only minor changes in grammar, punctuation, and footnotes. We are still in process regarding the finalization and implementation of these changes, which we will probably begin to implement sometime next year (2007).

So we will see the updated ESV New Testament via the Reverse Interlinear in the next few days/weeks as it rolls off the printing press and then the entire ESV Bible sometime next year. I would assume that electronic editions will follow thereafter. This is not all that different from the release of any translation since usually the New Testament is seen before the entire Bible. Although the official word seems to downplay the extent of changes in the ESV revision, I know a lot of people hope that it addresses some of the issues pointed out elsewhere.

Stephen Smith also confirmed that the general trends of the ESV in the blogosphere that I reported earlier today are essentially consistent with Crossway's own data, and was kind enough to give me another internet tool with which to play.

Thanks, Stephen, for accepting the invitation to use This Lamp as a venue for an official word on the forthcoming changes in the ESV.

Tags: ESV, Crossway