2025 ESV Bible Update Makes 68 Changes, Including Significant Edit to Genesis

Staff Writer

In a bit of news that will make King James Version Only (KJVO) adherents strut and crow across social media for the next few days, Crossway has announced that The English Standard Version (ESV) Bible has been updated for 2025, with a press release revealing that the Translation Oversight Committee made changes to “36 Scripture passages involving 42 verses, resulting in a total of 68-word changes.”

Released by Crossway in 2001 and now with 315 million copies in print, the version has become especially prominent in Reformed circles thanks in no small part to robust and aggressive marketing efforts that have made great strides in a crowded market.

The release notes that while the translators are “committed to maintaining a faithful, stable, and standard ESV Bible text that will meet the reading, memorizing, preaching, and liturgical needs of Christians worldwide,” they also want to be “open to considering changes that improve accuracy and clarity, taking into account new archaeological, linguistic, and textual discoveries.” The previous revision took place in 2016. (It was also updated in 2007 and 2011) making this the fourth revision in nearly 25 years.

Most of the changes are relatively minor, including modifications to word order or footnotes that look to alter the spelling of words.

However, some changes have been significant, with the translators noting two:

One notable revision in this update involves Genesis 3:16 and 4:7. The committee changed the ESV 2016 translation of the Hebrew preposition ‘el from “contrary to” back to the original ESV 2001 translation “for” —which provides a more natural translation in continuity with the historic stream of formal equivalent English Bible translations (for example, the RSV, NASB, and NKJV), and which preserves the range of interpretive options in the Hebrew. The interpretive options can now be seen in the alternative renderings provided in the footnotes: “Or to, or toward, or against.” The conjunction “but” has been changed to “and” in Genesis 3:16 and 4:7 so as not to impose a contrast that is not explicit in the Hebrew text.

Another notable update appears in John 1:18. “The only God” has been updated to “God the only Son,” with “God” corresponding to theos and “only Son” to monogenēs (as in John 1:14). This translation incorporates the concept of descent (which is an implication of monogenēs in context) and maintains concordance with the other occurrences of monogenēs in the New Testament. The idea of sonship is evoked by monogenēs in the context of “Father” in John 1:18 and 1:14. The rendering “only son” for monogenēs in several ancient translations of the New Testament for Luke 7:12, 8:42, and Hebrews 11:17 indicates the propriety of a similar rendering in the verses referring to the Son of God. The footnote for John 1:18 has also been revised to reflect more clearly the manuscript variations, including alternative renderings such as “the only God who” and “the only Son,” allowing readers to engage with the full textual tradition.

Given that there are 540 different editions of ESVs in print, Crossway anticipates the rollout of the text will take nearly two years to complete.