With so much to recommend it, I've been discouraged to see the International Standard Version stuck around the 50% mark for the last two months after hitting that mark shortly after being posted. This is a new translation that has been ~14 years in the making and I couldn't be more excited to see the completed translation come to Logos. Personally, I've been following this translation for the last 10 years. If you haven't yet taken a look at the ISV OT, I encourage you to go download a free copy in Word DOC format from www.isv.org .
One of the many reasons that I'm excited about the ISV is that Dr. Peter Flint translated the book of Isaiah using the Great Isaiah Scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls as the base manuscript. There are also extensive footnotes throughout Isaiah noting where other manuscripts deviate from that base text as well as other translation issues. They are also planning to provide their textual apparatus.
Another reason for my excitement is that the Committee on Translation made a painstaking effort to craft a translation that is both highly accurate, but also extremely readable. I think this is a goal that they have accomplished admirably...and others also agree:
E-Mail from Wayne Leman analyzing Exegetical Accuracy and "Standard" English:
I can tell
from the ISV translation that you all intended the ISV to be more precise
exegetically than the NIV.
Finding examples to illustrate deviances from standard English in various
Bible versions, and computing them within my spreadsheet, I am surprised to
find the ISV far ahead of the other versions which have "standard" in their
title.
6% ASV
8% KJV
22% RSV
19% NASB95
26% ESV
35% HCSB
38% NRSV |
58% NET
61% NIV
71% TNIV
88% TEV
91% NLTse
93% ISV
96% CEV
|
The
ISV has more natural
English than other Bible versions which have a similar degree of
idiomaticity, and also ranks higher then them in quantified studies of
exegetical accuracy.
Again,
you probably are not surprised by these findings, but I am, because I did
not know what the actual examples would show us. I knew that the ISV would
rank better than the NASB, ESV, and NRSV, but I didn't know how it would
compare with the NIV or HCSB. The rap
I keep hearing about the NIV is that it is "too dynamic". Well,
if the statistics continue to hold in my studies,
The
ISV shows that a translation can be more accurate as well as a better read
than other versions which followed a similar translation philosophy.
And
that is something which can be told to a publisher. It is one thing to have
a subjective opinion about the merits of a Bible version, but it is yet
another to have some empirical evidence that supports that opinion.
I
really do try to be just as fair, honest, and objective in my studies as
possible. I think I have a pretty good sense of what good English is. I have
worked as an editor for a publisher. I am, frankly, amazed at some of the
really terrible English which occurs in some Bible versions, including some
published rather recently.
I'm not
done yet with this study, so the statistics may shift some, but I don't
expect too much change. My own opinion is that God indeed blessed your team
with scholars who not only could do careful exegesis but also could do
something which is often rare among exegetes, and that is that they could
express the meaning of the biblical text in good quality English.
E-mail with comments found here - http://www.isv.org/comparisons.htm
Blog post on the analysis found here - http://englishbibles.blogspot.com/2007/01/evaluating-standard-english-in.html
Brian Moyer concludes:
It is my pleasure to compare the
International Standard Version to several other accurate versions of
Scripture. While I personally use the NASB for study and the NIV for general
reading (our Pastor primarily uses the NIV in his preaching); the ISV is in
my estimation the best combination, of the NASB's precision and the NIV's
readability, available (I have read the entire ISV New Testament and much of
the Old Testament). I look forward to being able to use the entire ISV as my
primary Bible.
His entire assessment and comparisons of several translations can also be found at - http://www.isv.org/comparisons.htm
Finally, there is a wealth of information about the features, benefits and translation principles of the ISV at their website:
http://www.isv.org/benefits.htm
http://www.isv.org/features.htm
http://www.isv.org/principles.htm
http://www.isv.org/about_us/whyisv.htm
I hope that you'll consider committing a $14.95 pre-pub order toward getting this great translation into Logos as soon as possible 
