{Book Review} Greek-English Interlinear ESV New Testament

Crossway has produced yet another beautiful and useful product for the serious student of Holy Scripture. The Greek-English Interlinear ESV New Testament is the companion to the previously released Hebrew-English Interlinear ESV Old Testament (2014).

This Bible is a great product for the following audiences: 

1. Those who have spent time studying the original biblical languages (in this case, Greek) and desire to freshen up on what they have previously learned.
2. Those who desire to seriously study the Bible or who prepare Bible studies. Those who desire to engage the Biblical text at the level of individual words and/or sentence structure.
3. Those who have not spent time studying the original biblical languages, but are nonetheless interested in seeing how translation works.

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This Greek-English Interlinear ESV New Testament provides the entire Greek New Testament (the Nestle-Alana Novum Testamentum Graece, NA28) with an English translation (an interlinear gloss) beneath each Greek word. The ESV translation is also located in the margins of the page, allowing you to compare the ESV translation with the actual Greek words and their more literal translation.

As the Introduction mentions, “unlike the smooth and polished ESV translation, these interlinear glosses are rougher in their degree of literalness, both grammatically and lexically. In this way, they serve as a kind of bridge between the ESV translation, which is already an essentially literal one, and the Greek grammars and the glosses and definitions given in the standard lexica.”

In other words, having the ESV in the margins is not merely repetition and regurgitation. The English gloss found under each Greek word is not simply the ESV translation of the Greek. Instead, these English glosses are intentionally sacrificing the need for the English words to be as readable, stylistic, and beautiful as a continuous English translation often is. This allows interlinear Bibles to serve a different yet complementary function than that of an English translation, such as the ESV, which is found in the margins. It helps the student to see what the original language literally says within its own content, and how it properly comes into the receptor language of English. 

I have greatly enjoyed this Bible, and I highly recommend it (especially if you fit in to one of the three audiences above). The below strengths are worthy of the purchase of this Bible.

Features of the Greek-English Interlinear ESV New Testament

• The size of this Bible is great! The Hebrew-English Interlinear ESV Old Testament is a rather huge volume, coming in at a trim size of 7.625 x 9.25 inches and just under 65 ounces in weight. This Greek volume, however comes in at a trim size of 5.875 x 8.0 inches, and 35 ounces in weight. (This is obviously due to the fact that the New Testament is substantially shorter than the Old Testament.) The type size is a very readable 10.0 point. The English glosses under the Greek are a smaller typeset than the Greek words and the ESV translation in the margins, but it is still very readable. 
• I love having the ESV translation in the margins. I enjoy reading the Greek on its own terms, and then glancing over to the margins when I get hung up and need some help. 
• The Greek text is single column, as well as the ESV translation in the margins. I always prefer single column. 
• Lexical conventions. I appreciate the way that the English gloss often varies from the ESV translation. This allows me to better understand the basics of the Greek word in question, and it likewise allows me to see how similar and cognate words relate to one another. One may assume that Crossway would simply keep the English gloss and the ESV translation the same due to their literal translation philosophy, but this assumption would be incorrect. They did a great job with the lexical content of the Enlgish gloss in my opinion. 
• I really like the simplicity of this volume! There are no footnotes with the exception of the normal textual footnotes that are provided in all ESV Bibles. These include alternative translations, explanation of Greek terms, technical translation notes, and a few others. There are very few of these, perhaps 0-3 per page. It makes for a very clean page. 

Drawbacks to the Greek-English Interlinear ESV New Testament

• No ribbon marker. I love ribbon markers, and I will always place this as a weakness if it is missing. 
• Many have complained about the lack of morphology given that it is advertised as providing “each Greek word’s basic meaning and morphology.” I would personally leave this out as a weakness, as Crossway has indeed provided morphology via their given English gloss. For instance, in Acts 1:11, the future tense is made known by the following English gloss: (he) will come. Or in Galatians 2:11, the aorist tense is known by it English gloss: (he) came. Notice also that the given (he) provides the number and gender. So it’s true, Crossway does not parse out verbs and decline nouns, adjectives, and pronouns in the way you would do so in Greek 101. But they are nonetheless providing the morphology for the reader. 
• There is no dictionary. I’m not so sure how helpful that would actually be for this product, but my other Greek Bibles have a dictionary. 

Summary

This product is absolutely wonderful! I can’t recommend it enough for those who want to better understand God’s Word and how the original languages work.

I enjoy using it not only for serious Bible study, but also for my devotional reading. I like to focus in on the Greek text, only utilizing the ESV translation in the margin when necessary.

I’ve wanted a Greek Bible to assist me in keeping up with the Biblical Greek that I learned while in seminary, and this product has been greatly useful toward that end. As I grow in my capability of handling the Greek text, I will move on to a Greek Reader’s Bible (with no English translation given in the margins, but a little added help in the margins for uncommon Greek words). But until then, this Crossway Greek-English Interlinear ESV New Testament is exactly what I need. 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Crossway Publishers for providing me with a complimentary copy of this Bible as part of the Blog Review Program. The opinions expressed are my own. 

Related Resources:

• Hebrew-English Interlinear ESV Old Testament (on Amazon)
• {Book Review} ESV Prayer Bible (another great Bible from Crossway)