The publisher of Crossway has written a general letter to be used in inquiries about changes made to the text of the revised ESV. The letter and list of changes are shown below.

As the publisher of the ESV, I want to let you know that a small number of word changes are being incorporated into the ESV Bible text, as we reprint and publish new editions of the ESV in 2011.

The extent of the word changes is comparatively small, involving about 275 verses and less than 500 words out of more than 750,000 words in the Bible text. To put this into perspective, the changes to the ESV are about one one-hundreth of the changes made recently in other leading Bible translations.

A few examples are changes from “yourself” to “you”; from “servant” to “worker”; from “has not” to “does not have”; from “young man” to “boy”; from “capital” to “citadel”; from “bondage” to “slavery”; from “nor” to “or”; from “trustworthy” to “faithful”; from “competent” to “sufficient”; from “everyone” to “each one.” A complete list of changes  [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.], shown in the context of each verse, is provided (below). You can also download a copy of the ESV preface, for further explanation of the ESV translation philosophy, principles, and legacy.

This list of 2011 changes was reviewed and discussed over the last five years by the thirteen-member ESV Translation Oversight Committee (TOC). The TOC then met in the Summer of 2010, and finalized the list in the Spring of 2011. The changes were then approved by the Crossway Board of Directors in April 2011. Editions of the ESV with the 2011 text changes include the following notice on the copyright page: “ESV Text Edition: 2011.”

Most changes to the ESV text were made to correct grammar, improve consistency, or increase precision in meaning. In making these changes, the Committee was deeply conscious of the enormous responsibility entrusted to it—to translate the very words of God, with the greatest possible accuracy and precision, depth of meaning, and literary excellence.

On behalf of the ESV Bible Translation Oversight Committee and the Crossway Board of Directors, Lane T. Dennis, PhD Crossway President and ESV Translation Oversight Committee Chair

Editor’s Note; This link goes to a 27 page document that reads like a Kindle – use the arrows at the bottom of each page. . [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]