A Look at the English Standard Version
Catholic Edition (ESV-CE) Bible

After several years of waiting and speculation, and just when it appeared that everybody had given up on the prospects of this becoming a reality, the English Standard Version Catholic Edition (ESV-CE) of the Bible was finally published at the beginning of 2018 in India.

Since there was so little information about the ESV-CE on the web at the time, I took a few photos and provided this review.

Note: About a year after I wrote this article, an edition of the ESV-CE was published in America by the Augustine Institute as The Augustine Bible. Later it was made available in digital form on Verbum.

The ESV-CE arrived from ATC Books in India. It took about two weeks to get from India to Japan after I placed the order. I'm happy with this Bible, and was glad to finally have it in my hands after ten months of trying to figure out how to order it and pay for it. Credit cards were not acceptable for payment, only bank transfers or Western Union remittances which didn't work for me in Japan, and the Paypal feature on their web site didn't work properly. The break came when I got a quote from them by e-mail and was instructed to Paypal them directly rather than use the Paypal option on their web site.

This is the black bonded leather edition, and was the best edition available at the time.

This edition is slightly smaller than the RSV-2CE, and is easier to handle and carry around. That little bit of size difference means a lot when carrying this in a bag on a crowded subway.

This Bible is printed with black ink only, including the maps which were originally designed to be printed in full color. Although I prefer color maps, I was just happy to see that there are maps in this Bible because I always refer to them; they make reading the Bible much more interesting and understandable. My compact RSV-CE had no maps, which forced me to use a Bible atlas.

Later I discovered one advantage to black and white maps. Since they are printed on the same paper and with the same ink as the text of the Bible, I am able to underline and write on the maps with the same tools I use in the rest of the Bible.

In my case that would be a Uni Style Fit pen with 0.28mm Blue Black Refill for writing notes, and a Pentel Multi 8 Colored Pencil for underlining. I've experimented with many tools and decided these were the best for my Bible study.

I've written a separate article on the multi-colored pencil here.

Now I can customize the maps and add data that was not originally in these maps but appear in my Bible altlases. Consequently I refer to these maps all the time.

Speaking of customizing your Bible, I have created ESV-CE Bible PDF charts for reading the Bible in a year which you can download, print, and glue to the blank pages in the back of your Bible (with restickable glue). You can find these and many more free resources on my Resources page.

This Bible is sewn bound, so it lays open flat, and there is absolutely no danger of having pages fall out. This is so much better than glue bound Bibles which have become so common these days.

The font is very readable, and the paper is white. In the photo below, the RSV-2CE is on the left, and the ESV-CE is on the right.

The ESV is More Accurate than the RSV

As for the contents, my study of the ESV-CE even in such a short time has shown me how superior the ESV-CE is over the RSV-CE / RSV-2CE. Disturbing parts such as Noah being the first tiller of the soil in Genesis 9:20 are changed to reflect the actual Hebrew text in the Old Testament. In this case the ESV-CE says that Noah began to till the soil (the first tiller of the soil was apparently Cain).

Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; (RSV-2CE)
Noah began to till the soil, and he planted a vineyard. (ESV-CE)

And I was happy to discover other more literal renderings in this Bible. For example, the Greek word sarx in the New Testament is properly translated in the ESV-CE as flesh and not interpreted as worldly as it is in the RSV-2CE.

Flesh does not equal world, and such a translation approach could cause more problems than it solves. If there were at least a footnote alerting the reader to such substitutions, I could live with it. But there was no such footnote in this particular passage.

However, the ESV-CE is not totally free of meddling. In some cases it follows the RSV-2CE in making phrases more palatable and easier to grasp.

The phrase in bold text is actually two distinct terms which both the RSV-2CE and the ESV-CE combined into one concept. To their credit both translations have a footnote alerting the reader to this (although the footnote in the RSV-2CE seems to cause even more problems with its odd commentary). In the more literal Douay-Rheims Bible, both terms are included: effeminate and liers with mankind. Even the NRSV which is plagued with other types of politically correct meddling translates these terms more precisely as male prostitutes and sodomites. I guess the RSV-2CE and ESV-CE translators wanted to shield the reader from graphic imagery.

Smoothing over the original language because it is so graphic might spare us some unpleasant images but it can also deprive us of an occasional chuckle. Compare the English for males in any modern English translation of 1 Samuel 25:22, 34 with the Douay-Rheims (where it is 1 Kings rather than 1 Samuel). The Douay-Rheims (as well as the Protestant King James Version of 1611) translates the Hebrew text with the more accurate any that pisseth against the wall.

I believe that God gave us the words and concepts of the Bible in the context of certain languages and cultures and I would rather have a more accurate translation and deal with potentially off-color phrases.

Speaking of culture, the RSV-2CE modifies descriptions to fit modern western culture while the ESV-CE translates them as they are, reflecting the culture at the time the text was written. This may be a "speed bump" for new readers, but in the long run it is the best option as one becomes more familiar with the culture of the Bible.

Oddly enough, although the RSV-2CE modernizes cultural references, it still retains a lot of older English words which are no longer used the same way, while the ESV-CE updates these words to reflect current English.

But the ESV-CE didn't get them all; Psalm 26:10 in the ESV-CE still says ...in whose hands are evil devices, which might conjure up images of phones going off during the Mass.

The Catholic Hot Spots

There are a few places where the RSV-2CE still outshines the ESV-CE; those few hot spots that Catholics like to check. For example, in Luke 1:28 the ESV-CE has Greetings, O highly favored one instead of Hail, full of grace. This will be a "deal breaker" for some folks.

But as as far as I'm concerned, these were simply honest and objective translation choices consistent with the ESV translation approach rather than some Protestant conspiracy. I can always pencil in those few spots that don't set well with me if I like the rest of the Bible.

But for those who are curious about other Catholic hot spot passages, I have found them to be identical to the Protestant ESV. For example, all references to the "brothers" of Jesus are still "brothers" and not "brethren" as they appear in the RSV-CE and RSV-2CE. Here are some passages of interest:

Another point in favor of the RSV-2CE is the inclusion of cross references in the footnotes. The ESV-CE has very few cross references.

As you would expect, the ESV-CE has all the books of the Catholic Biblical canon, and has placed First and Second Maccabees after Esther in the historical books, rather than after Malachi in the prophetic books.

The introduction states that the ESV-CE is in accord with Liturgiam Authenticam and will "form the basis of the liturgical text in the Catholic Lectionary." I have read that the bishops in England and Wales are planning on using it in their liturgy as well (maybe they will correct the hot spots in their edition).

The ESV-CE is for the most part a very accurate translation of the Bible, but it neglects Catholic Tradition in certain hot spots.

I had previously written that there was no audio edition of the ESV-CE, but I have discovered that one is now available in the Bible in a Year section of the free Amen app by Augustine Institute. There is also a PDF chart available so you can check off the days as you go.

The English Standard Version Catholic Edition is one of two Catholic Bible translations that I am excited about. The other translation is the Douay-Rheims Bible. I have written a separate article about the advantages of this Bible.