By Davy Ellison.

In October 2024 I was gifted a package from Grace Publications that included a beautiful genuine leather CSB Bible. Since then, I’ve used it at work for staff prayers and readings, delivering devotionals for students, referred to it during preparation for lectures and kept it on my desk for dipping in and out of. What I therefore offer is not a sophisticated review of the CSB as a translation, many others have provided that, but simply a personal reflection on my use. Here are my headlines:

Truly Anglicised – This Bible is truly anglicised, not like my anglicized ESV!! While I’m not a pedant about UK/US versions of English, the truly anglicised nature of the CSB is satisfying. It feels indigenous.

Free Flowing – The flow of the English prose is superb. I very rarely find myself needing to pause to reread a verse to catch the sense. Instead, the reading experience is smooth, flowing freely. This means that a readers CSB (chapter numbers and versification removed) would be a very attractive proposition. The flow of the English also encourages reading larger chunks in one sitting.

Easy to Read Aloud – Related to the flow of the prose is the ease with which the CSB can be read aloud. In our staff prayer meeting each Monday we read a portion of Scripture together before praying. Over the past 7 or 8 months, any time I’ve volunteered to read a passage sight unseen I’ve been able to do so without great difficulty. The phrasing is natural for the target language. This point and the last suggest that the CSB is a good option for a pew Bible.

Translation Choices – There are some translation choices that provoke careful consideration. In a recent devotion on Deuteronomy, I came across the interesting decision of the CSB committee to translate two key Hebrew terms together as “gracious covenant loyalty” (Deut. 7:9; for reference the ESV has “keeps covenant and steadfast love”). There have been other occasions where I have experienced similar interesting decisions. Some of these decisions improve on existing translations, others don’t. But all of them cause the reader to consider the text more carefully, and that is a good thing.

Aesthetically Pleasing – All translations have their premium versions. While this is of little consequence to the content, my edition of the anglicised CSB is beautiful. The font and print size are easily readable too. It is simply a lovely product to hold and read.

Honestly, I will likely remain primarily an ESV reader for two reasons. First, it is what I am familiar with. It is the translation I have read since conversion and the translation in which I recall most verses. Second, it is a formal translation and therefore more useful for me in my line of work. Nevertheless, the CSB has supplanted the NIV as my dynamic/functional go to after the ESV. Indeed, if my church were to adopt a pew Bible I would advocate for the CSB as it provides a commendable blend of word-for-word accuracy and target language readability.

Being tied to one translation of the Bible hinders readers from appreciating the depth of the biblical text. Every Christian should have a small handful of various translations to enhance their understanding of the text they’re reading. The CSB should be one of those translations.