# English Standard Version Bible

3 Hacker News commenters recommended English Standard Version Bible and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a sound, close-to-the-source translation for personal reading and study. Its biases are unavoidable, but mostly obvious.

## Why people recommend it

- Used personally for reading and study (1 comments): "The ESV is the translation I have used since it came out for personal reading and study" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46385741))
- Much closer to the source (1 comments): "Modern translations like ESV are much closer to source" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47110569))
- Not bad overall (1 comments): "The ESV is not bad. It has its (unavoidable) biases but they are mostly of the obvious sort" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46000168))

## What people warn about

- Unavoidable but mostly obvious biases (1 comments): "The ESV is not bad. It has its (unavoidable) biases but they are mostly of the obvious sort" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46000168))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [New Revised Standard Version Bible](https://hackerapproved.com/p/new-revised-standard-version-bible.md): 6 recommend
- [New International Version Bible](https://hackerapproved.com/p/new-international-version-bible.md): 5 recommend
- [New King James Version Bible](https://hackerapproved.com/p/new-king-james-version-bible.md): 4 recommend
- [New Living Translation Bible](https://hackerapproved.com/p/new-living-translation-bible.md): 4 recommend
- [World English Bible](https://hackerapproved.com/p/world-english-bible.md): 3 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433541661?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781433541667) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "English Standard Version Bible", https://hackerapproved.com/p/english-standard-version-bible/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).