Archive for April, 2008

Erik at Irish Calvinist writes how the audio feature at the ESV site helps him memorize the Bible.

The voice is Max McLean. I have enjoyed listening to the text to help foster memory, meditation or just reinforcement before preaching. I’m sure you’ll find this feature to be helpful as well.

One of the commenters adds: “I have in the past recorded myself reciting the Scripture I wanted to memorise and played the recording on a loop while I walked around town on my lunch break. It was great for memorising. I think hearing my own voice helped.”

We’re pretty sure that having audio indexed and searchable at the verse level, rather than the chapter level, is unique to the ESV website. An article from 2006 discusses the technical background of “versifying” an audio Bible if you want to know how we did it.

Niel Nielson, the president of Covenant College, talks about the importance of reading and writing well, especially in the context of Bible reading and translation. For example:

The English Standard Version translation preserves the grammar of the original Greek, presenting [1 Peter 5:7] as a subordinate clause as follows:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

By faithfully rendering the grammar of the original, the ESV enables the reader immediately to see that there is a close connection between humility and getting rid of our anxiety. In fact, the reader is instructed to demonstrate true humility before God by casting all anxieties on him. Worry is pride, a refusal to acknowledge who God is and who we are.