Revisions to ESV Bible are 'potentially dangerous,' says biblical scholar

Jardine Malado Monday, September 19, 2016

The English Standard Version of the Bible including the Apocrypha | Wikimedia Commons/John

New Testament scholar Scot McKnight has warned that the changes to the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible are "potentially dangerous." Crossway, the publisher of the ESV, made 52 word changes to 29 verses in the popular Bible translation.

Earlier this month, the Crossway Board of Directors and the ESV Translation Oversight Committee voted unanimously to make the final version of the text permanent throughout the duration of its copyright.

The first of the controversial changes can be found in Genesis 3:16 which originally states, "Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." The verse now reads, "Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you."

McKnight, a New Testament professor at the Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois, warns that the changes could have negative implications.

"This new translation of Genesis 3:16 suggests the curse against the woman is an act of God (a curse) that seals estrangement, alienation and tension between females and males," he told The Christian Post. "By so rendering this verse, the ESV creates the impression that females and males are contrarians with one another," he continued.

"Some think they make women rebellious and men authoritarian in response. That is a sad and potentially dangerous interpretation for it gives the wrong kind of males a ready-made excuse for domination," he added.

In his blog, McKnight argued that the text in Genesis is descriptive and the translators' mistake is to interpret the verse as prescriptive.

McKnight stated that he does not know why Crossway did not invite public conversations about the text changes but he noted that it was a "bad move" considering the permanent status of the translation.

Crossway provided a complete list of changes to the text in the official ESV website.

The ESV is ranked as the third most popular Bible translation in the U.S. after the King James Version (KJV) and the New International Version (NIV). The 2015 State of the Bible report revealed that about 8 percent of American adults and 15 percent of millennials prefer to read the ESV.